"Doctors Divided over AIDS Threat to Pakistan"

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1990. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

"Doctors Divided over AIDS Threat to Pakistan"

United Press International (12/16/90)
Barraclough, Colin

Abstract: Karachi, Pakistan--Pakistan faces an epidemic of HIV infection from expatriate workers from the Persian Gulf region, but some physicians hamper the fight against AIDS by staunchly adhering to the belief that sex, drug use, and homosexuality do not threaten this Moslem country. Until the invasion of Kuwait and the influx of people from the Persian Gulf, two-thirds of Pakistanis with HIV were foreigners or natives who had travelled abroad and had contracted the virus in the Middle East. Reluctance to discuss sex openly also hampers the AIDS debate in Karachi, a port of entry to most travelers and the center of the country's 1 million heroin addicts. Male and female prostitution is a growing problem, and blood transfusions from professional donors show a high AIDS risk. Poor hospitals use unsterilized needles for medical procedures, and acupuncture also presents an AIDS risk. Potential conduits for HIV include prostitutes, cross-country truckers, and unmonitored conditions in slums and prisons.

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