Pakistan's HIV high-risk populations: Critical appraisal of failure to curtail spread beyond key populations

Authors

Hussain Ahmed Raza, Aga Khan UniversityFollow
Mohummad Hassan Raza Raja, Aga Khan UniversityFollow
Muhammad Mussab Khakwani, Aga Khan UniversityFollow
Bushra Jamil, Aga Khan UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Department

Educational Development; Medical College Pakistan; Medicine

Abstract

Pakistan has been a hub of several HIV outbreaks over the last 2 decades, with four major outbreaks being registered since 2018. There has been a recent rise in HIV infections, especially in high-risk populations, mainly consisting of people who inject drugs, men who have sex with men, prisoners, the transgender women community, and female sex workers. Consistently poor infection control practices, unregulated unsafe blood transfusion, questionable ethical practices by healthcare providers, and a general lack of awareness are the main drivers of recent HIV outbreaks, with these issues exacerbated by the presence of untrained health care providers. To stop the spread of HIV systemically and sustainably, aggressive measures need to be taken at all levels by all concerned stakeholders that not only deal with building up testing, tracing, and treatment capabilities but also address underlying grassroots problems that have largely been ignored to date.

Comments

Issue and pagination are not provided by the author/publisher.

Publication (Name of Journal)

IJID Regions

DOI

10.1016/j.ijregi.2024.100364

Recommended Citation

Raza, H. A., Raja, M. H., Khakwani, M. M., Jamil, B. (2024). Pakistan's HIV high-risk populations: Critical appraisal of failure to curtail spread beyond key populations. IJID Regions, 11.
Available at: https://ecommons.aku.edu/pakistan_fhs_mc_ded/62