ISLAMABAD- Pakistan has 8,000 registered AIDS patients, with at least 100,000 unregistered patients, increasing at an alarming pace.
The Programme Manager of National AIDs program, Syed Javed has verified these figures, attributing the spread of AIDs to unsafe and adulterated blood transfusion and use of contaminated syringes by drug addicts, instead of the much propagated infected sexual intercourse.
There were 4308 registered AIDS patients in 2011, out of which 849 were women, 3280 men and 179 children. This increased to 5430 patients during 2012-2013, with 1660 women patients and 4147 male victims and 227 children.
The manager AIDS Programme Syed Javed informed that 18 HIV-AIDS help centers were functioning in Karachi, Balochistan, Peshawar and Lahore. Syed Javed appeals to parliamentarians, commissioners and the educational system to curb this rising menace.