LAHORE -

Three more measles patient died on Tuesday, taking the death toll to 41 in Lahore.
Aurangzab, 1, of Chungi Amar Sadhu, and Muhammad Ahmed, 2, of Pattoki died at Children’s Hospital while Maham, 1, lost her life at Mayo Hospital.
As many as 149 more patients were admitted to different hospitals in the City on Tuesday. Out of 149 new patients, 58 were admitted to Children’s Hospital, 28 to Mayo Hospital, 05 to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital while 58 new patients were admitted to other public sector and private healthcare centres in the City.
Separately, Punjab Minister for Health Salima Hashmi has said that there is a need for continuity in the policies for the success of Punjab AIDS Control Programme. She further stressed the need for multi-sectoral coordination between organizations, researchers and implementers for programme and policy design. She recognized HIV as an acute issue that could develop into a major issue in the years to come if left unchecked.
She was presiding over the first Programme Science Group meeting of Punjab AIDS Control Programme here at a local hotel on Tuesday. Programme Manager of Punjab AIDS Control Programme Dr Salman Shahid, Dean Institute of Public Health Prof Muaz Ahmed and other representatives from UN agencies, USAID, World Bank and Action Aid attended the meeting.
Dr Farhan Emmanuel introduced the Programme Science Global Programme, followed by Dr Tahira Ezra Reza’s presentation where she spoke about the proposed Programme Science activities in Punjab. The Programme Science Group memberships were also finalized in this meeting. Dr Salman Shahid, Programme Manager PACP also updated the participants about the activities and HIV response of PACP in Punjab.
Meanwhile, Punjab AIDS Control Programme and Center for Global Public Health, University of Manitoba also conducted a seminar in collaboration with the Institute of Public Health as a part of the Human Resource Development Programme. The chief guest of the seminar was the Vice Chancellor of the University of Health Sciences, Muhammad Aslam. The main objective of the seminar was to introduce the Human Resource Development Programme, whereby representatives from NGOs, IPH, researchers from civil society and the HIV programme participated to improve their capacity in the realms of research, epidemiology, public health and programming.
The seminar was opened by Dr Maaz, Dean of Institute of Public Health, where he elaborated on the mission, achievements and goals of the IPH. Dr Farhan Emmanuel, Associate Professor of the Center for Global Public Health, University of Manitoba presented about the emerging HIV/AIDS epidemic globally and in Pakistan.
 He informed the participants about the current status of HIV/AIDS in Pakistan, risk settings, gaps and opportunities. Dr Tayyaba Rashid, Treatment Coordinator PACP, presented information about the services and treatment provided by the government in response to the HIV epidemic.
Dr Shahid Iqbal, Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases, IPH also presented about infectious diseases and the causes and necessary response needed by the Public Health sector to deal with such issues.
Lastly, the Chief Guest also spoke about the merits of designing HIV programmes and researches according to the strengths of the institutes available and trying to overcome the weakness and be astute to acknowledge opportunities.