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HIV/AIDS in Pakistan: the battle begins.

Rai MA, Warraich HJ, Ali SH, Nerurkar VR

Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan. mohammadalirai@yahoo.com

Pakistan, the second most populous Muslim nation in the world, has started to finally experience and confront the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The country had been relatively safe from any indigenous HIV cases for around two decades, with most of the infections being attributable to deported HIV positive migrants from the Gulf States. However, the virus finally seems to have found a home-base, as evidenced by the recent HIV outbreaks among the injection drug user community. Extremely high-risk behavior has also been documented among Hijras (sex workers) and long-distance truck drivers. The weak government response coupled with the extremely distressing social demographics of this South-Asian republic also helps to compound the problem. The time is ripe now to prepare in advance, to take the appropriate measures to curtail further spread of the disease. If this opportunity is not utilized right now, little if at all could be done later.

Published 4 April 2007 in Retrovirology, 4: 22.
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