On World AIDS Day, PMA calls for urgent reset of the country’s failing HIV control system

Says Pakistan cannot combat the epidemic without reliable data, revived initiatives, and strict enforcement of blood-safety standards.

IV Report

KARACHI: Appearing not satisfied with the existing official measures aimed at checking the persisting spread of HIV infections across the country, the Pakistan Medical Association has called for a complete overhauling of the official hubs of the diseases (HIV) control system, as the citizens celebrated World AIDS Day once again in the absence of any confirmed national consolidated status report of the disease giving HIV patient number, rates of new infections, people receiving the due treatment and other pertaining achievements, if any.

Marking World AIDS Day under the global theme “Overcoming Disruption, Transforming the AIDS Response,” the PMA said in a statement issued by its Secretary General, Dr Abdul Ghafoor Shoro, that the country’s HIV emergency was being compounded by policy inertia, worsening inequalities in care, and the failure to produce trustworthy public health data.

The Association noted that Pakistan is now ranked as having the second fastest-growing HIV epidemic in the Asia-Pacific region, a trend it described as “alarming and unacceptable,” particularly for a country that has repeatedly witnessed avoidable outbreaks stemming from unsafe medical practices.

Citing global statistics from UNAIDS, the PMA said the epidemic’s burden remained formidable: 40.8 million people worldwide are living with HIV, while 1.3 million new infections and 630,000 AIDS-related deaths were reported in 2024 alone. In Pakistan, the situation was becoming increasingly fragile, with Sindh alone registering “3,995 HIV-positive children”, in addition to recent episodes in Karachi where more than a dozen children tested positive within a single healthcare facility — an event the PMA called “a glaring reminder of systemic infection control failures.”

Balochistan, too, was cited as an emerging hotspot. While the province reported 462 new cases last year, official registries list 2,823 known patients, though experts estimate the true figure to be between 7,000 and 9,000, suggesting large gaps in detection and reporting.

The PMA said the national HIV response structure was “broken,” pointing to funding challenges after the Global Fund reduced support by $27 million, threatening diagnostic services and prevention programmes. The National AIDS Control Programme (NACP), the country’s central coordinating body, remained “nearly inactive” due to resource constraints, the statement added.

The Association said the persistence of unsafe injections, unsterilised equipment, and unregulated blood transfusions was helping drive new infections, proving that critical lessons from major past outbreaks — including the 2019 Larkana tragedy — had not been institutionalised.

Referring to UNICEF–UNAIDS projections, the PMA warned that a decline in programme coverage could lead to an additional 1.1 million children acquiring HIV by 2040, with 820,000 potential deaths from AIDS-related causes, underscoring the stakes for Pakistan’s younger population.

The PMA called on the government to urgently fill the funding gap left by foreign donors, revive the NACP with adequate staffing and data systems, and enforce strict infection control and blood safety protocols. It further urged a human-rights-centred approach to counter stigma, along with targeted screening campaigns in high-risk communities.

The Association appealed to political leaders, the media, and civil society to “break the silence,” warning that without decisive action, Pakistan’s health system risks losing further ground against a preventable and treatable virus.

In the meantime, the Sindh Health Department’s CDC-HIV/AIDS organised an awareness walk and seminar at the Karachi Press Club, led by Director Kanwal Mustafa and Deputy Director Dr Ghulam Ali Bozdar.

Photos courtesy: Official sources

Chart courtesy: UNAIDS