In a country where the growing tenacity of a deadly epidemic takes everyone by storm not because of its severity but due to the societal stigmas, alarm bells sounded by UNAIDS over the much-feared HIV/AIDS killing 12,000 Pakistanis in a year are bound to be pushed to some far-off corner. Most of us are afraid not because we have begun to walk in a different direction than the global declining trends but because we do not wish to be associated with the “unclean” in any manner whatsoever. With over 49,000 cases among women and 6700 minor patients made all the more worrisome by glaring evidence of at least 80 per cent of the patients unaware of their status, we cannot waste any more time in denial. Although the epidemic persisting in key populations including injecting drug users, transgender community and male sex workers remained an open secret for many years, the impacts on the general population can neither be swept under the rug nor twisted to blame the victims. Lack of knowledge about this disease has accumulated superstitions and taboos; significantly hampering efforts to address the management of HIV. Considering how AIDS is very easy to diagnose and its transmission can be prevented 100 per cent, the public health sector would have to step in and take financial ownership of the HIV programme to inculcate a multi-pronged approach and create lasting policy changes. From extending a gracious hand to improve the quality of patient’s lives post-diagnosis to building awareness about how the disease was not restricted to those with risky sexual behaviours, a lot needs to be accomplished on the societal front. No riddance is possible without public health interventions that revolutionise the narrative of the community. These dangers would continue to grow, even more fiercely than imagined if we do not adopt a cautious approach. *