Daily Times

One more child – out of 41 people screened – was diagnosed with HIV when his blood was screened at Taluka Headquarter Hospital on Thursday, bringing the toll to 958 out of which 785 are children and 173 are adults.

However nobody was found positive at any of the five outreach sites established in Banguldero, Naundero, Lashari, Pir Bux Bhutto and Garhi Yasin where only 19 people were tested.

Meanwhile, Officer on Special Duty (OSD) of the Health Department, Government of Sindh, Karachi, has written a letter on July 23, to Dr. Fizza S. Gillani, Assistant Professor (Research), The Warran Alpert Medical School of Brown University, USA, on visit of the team of Research Scientists Division of Infectious Disease from Brown University, informing her that “Government of Sindh has been pleased to agree to facilitate your delegation / group to visit Ratodero/Larkana in 4th week of July, 2019 or any date convenient to your group”. Moreover, the letter added, a responsible officer of Health Department / Provincial Programme Manager, Sindh HIV/AIDS Control Programme (SACP), will accompany with the delegation/group at Larkana during the visit. She has now been requested after expiry of three month’s efforts to convey the detailed visit schedule at the earliest.

The team will bring a “communication project for Larkana” the design of which is “a quick response to this developing healthcare emergency in rural Pakistan and is designed by the project team with experts from Brown University, Jinnah Sindh Medical University Alumni Association of North America (JSMUAANA), and APPNA Institute of Public Health (AIPH)”. “This is a volunteer project with the goals of disseminating HIV knowledge of different forums including teaching institutions, hospitals, hospital administrations, and other healthcare provider groups in Pakistan. The main objective is to empower the healthcare providers with HIV knowledge to reduce stigma and increase awareness about HIV/AIDS in Pakistan.”

The SACP has also so far failed to establish ART Center in Ratodero so that affected children could be given required medicines at their doorstep relieving them to undergo extra costs on travelling to Larkana despite passage of three months as screening camp was established on April 25, 2019 as since then massive outbreak of children has emerged which has shaken the world.