LARKANA - At least 13 children were tested positive for HIV AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) in Ratodero, a town of Larkana on Thursday.

According to in-charge of the HIV Aids Control Programme Dr Abdul Hafeez, the blood samples of 16 children were sent to a laboratory for test, out of which 13 were tested positive for HIV AIDS.

The children are between the ages of four months and eight years. The parents of those affected children were tested negative in their tests.

The children are said to be affected through an already infected injection.

Larkana continues to top the list of districts most affected by HIV in Sindh with number of AIDS patients in Larkana rising to more than 2,400.

“More than 20,000 people are diagnosed with HIV AIDS annually in Pakistan. Over 60 percent of those patients belong to Punjab,” says a report.

Last month, eight people including a three-month-old child were diagnosed with AIDS in Sheikhupura.

As per details, the victims belong to Tehsil Safdarabad of Sheikhupura.

Sources said doctors were giving the treatment of Hepatitis to all patients so far. Following the diagnosis of AIDS, the patients were referred to Faisalabad’s hospital.

Children between ages of four months and eight years are being affected through infected injection

Victims include a couple with their three-month-old child, while others were five males and two females.

Meanwhile, Panic gripped Larkana after 13 children were tested positive for human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV).

Larkana is the stronghold of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) which has been in government in Sindh province for decades. But the city has one of the worst healthcare facilities.

The results are very worrisome, Dr Hafeez said, urging the need of taking drastic steps to create awareness about HIV amongst people in the area.

According to WHO, Pakistan is registering approximately 20,000 new HIV infections annually, the highest rate of increase among all countries in the region.

The international body says mortality among Pakistanis living with the virus, which causes the deadly AIDS disease, is also rising, in spite of the availability of lifesaving antiretroviral therapy.

The latest government figures show that only 16 percent of the estimated 150,000 people living with HIV had been tested and only 9 percent have access to lifesaving treatment.

“The remaining 135,000 people are walking around in the communities as carriers of (HIV) infection who are ready to transmit infections to those who are not infected, even to their unborn babies,” Dr. Saima Paracha of the National AIDS Control Program, told media recently.

Officials say the HIV epidemic in Pakistan remains largely concentrated among the key populations, including people who inject drugs, the transgender community, sex workers and their clients and men who have sex with men.

Official estimates show that Pakistan has seen a 45 percent increase in new HIV infections since 2010.

The report said AIDS-related deaths in the world have fallen from 1.9 million in 2005 to one million in 2016, adding that “for the first time the scales have tipped.”

The year 2016 saw 1.8 million new infections, almost half the record number of some 3.5 million in 1997, said UNAIDS.

In total, 76.1 million people have been infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, since the epidemic started in the 1980s. Some 35 million have died.

As of yet, there is no HIV vaccine or cure, and infected people rely on lifelong anti-retroviral therapy to stop the virus replicating.

Without treatment, HIV-infected people go on to develop AIDS, a syndrome that weakens the immune system and leaves the body exposed to opportunistic infections such as tuberculosis, and some types of cancer.

Treatment carries side effects and is costly, but allows infected people to be healthier for longer.