By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s health authorities told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday that nearly 20,000 people who began antiretroviral treatment for HIV have since disappeared from care, a stark illustration of the gaps in a national response to one of the world’s fastest-growing epidemics in the Eastern Mediterranean region.
The disclosure came during a briefing to the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Health, which rejected a request from the health ministry to conduct the session behind closed doors. Lawmakers instead insisted on keeping the proceedings public, citing the issue’s urgency and the lives at stake.
The committee, chaired by MNA Dr. Mahesh Kumar Malani, had summoned the ministry after taking strong notice of the rising HIV caseload. Pakistan has recorded a 200 percent increase in new infections over the past 15 years, climbing from 16,000 in 2010 to 48,000 in 2024, according to World Health Organization data. An estimated 369,000 people are living with HIV nationwide, yet only about 84,400 cases are formally registered — a detection gap the ministry acknowledged as significant.
This year alone, 14,182 new cases were identified among 374,126 people screened at 97 antiretroviral therapy centers. Of the registered patients, roughly 61,000 are receiving treatment. The nearly 20,000 who initiated care but are now unaccounted for have either died or stopped reporting to clinics, ministry officials said, underscoring failures in patient follow-up, counseling and retention. The ministry told the committee it is preparing a comprehensive master plan to close those gaps.
Malani noted that Health Minister Mustafa Kamal had asked for an on-camera briefing, arguing the matter was already in the public eye — particularly after more than 600 cases surfaced in Islamabad. But committee members Aliya Kamran and Shazia Sobia Aslam Soomro opposed any move to restrict access. Kamran told the panel that lives were being lost to AIDS. Sobia stressed that media coverage of the proceedings was essential given the issue’s public importance.
Kamal, addressing the committee, sought to reassure lawmakers that no new national outbreak had occurred this year. He pointed to last year’s cases in Taunsa, in southern Punjab, where authorities for the first time shared all related facts openly with the media. Concealing data, he said, would amount to a criminal act. The minister outlined the government’s latest steps to curb transmission.
Pakistan is imposing a nationwide ban on the reuse of all sizes of syringes, following a prime ministerial directive prompted by reports of spread through 10cc syringes in Karachi. A partial ban on smaller 2.5cc and 3cc syringes has been in place since 2021, but larger ones remained in use in some areas. A recent BBC investigation highlighted systemic problems at Taunsa’s Tehsil Headquarters Hospital, where staff were recorded reusing syringe bodies and drawing medication from multi-dose vials, leading to 331 children testing positive between November 2024 and October 2025.Kamal also announced mandatory HIV screening for all Pakistanis deported from abroad and returned at borders or airports. Some countries, he said, deport individuals with undisclosed infections, potentially seeding further domestic transmission.
The briefing highlighted persistent structural weaknesses. Committee members expressed alarm over the continued circulation of banned syringes, inadequate monitoring of blood banks and transfusion services, the absence of sustained public awareness campaigns, and the stigma that deters testing and treatment. Localized outbreaks in Taunsa, Kot Momin and parts of southern Punjab, they noted, reflect failures in infection prevention and control, unsafe medical practices and weak regulatory enforcement.
Pakistan’s overall HIV prevalence remains low at 0.2 percent, compared with a global average of 0.5 percent. But the disease is concentrating in vulnerable populations, and UNAIDS has repeatedly warned that the country is among the few in Asia where new infections continue to climb, driven by low testing rates. Funding constraints compound the challenge. Kamal told the committee that Pakistan’s HIV programs rely heavily on the Global Fund, which has provided $65 million for the current three-year cycle. Only $3.9 million flows directly to the government; the balance is channeled through the United Nations Development Programme and nongovernmental organizations such as Nai Zindagi. Those partners, he said, do not share operational data with the government, leaving federal authorities financially constrained even as they work to increase domestic allocations. Pakistan was placed in the Global Fund’s “Additional Safeguard Category” several years ago after complaints of irregularities.
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