The Sindh Health Department will start a self-screening project for the prevention of HIV, for which HIV detection kits will be purchased, while kits will also be obtained from the Global Fund.
The Sindh Health Department has decided to conduct self-screening of HIV to prevent HIV in the province. Can be found out.
He said that for the pilot project, self-screening kits will be taken from the Global Fund and Sindh Health Department will also purchase screening kits, self-screening kits will be available only in certain hospitals.
He said that the purpose of self-screening is to find the hidden cases of HIV in the province because according to an estimate of UNAIDS, there are 90 thousand 300 cases of HIV in Sindh, of which only 19 thousand 766 people are registered; who are 17 Treatment options are available at the treatment center.
Others, who do not know their status or if they do know, are unwilling to come forward due to fear, are launching a self-screening project to find and facilitate treatment.
He said that in Pakistan citizens do not get tested for HIV due to fear of stigmatization and due to this fear we face difficulties in reaching people, we are spreading awareness among people so that they can test their HIV. Find out the status and then they can get treatment facilities.
Dr. Irshad Kazmi said that in 2022, more than one million people were screened to find out their HIV status, out of which 3,515 new cases have been registered and thus the rate of positive cases would be 0.343%.
