Children pay the purchase price in Pakistan's mass HIV outbreak
Since his son was identified as having HIV during a mass outbreak in Pakistan among babies and children, hard-up Shahzado Shar has often been forced to select between food and medicine. His five-year-old was one of hundreds who tested positive in 2019 after a whistleblower doctor uncovered a scandal involving the re-use of needles in southern Sindh province. The quantity of patients quickly swelled and 2 yrs later the figure stands at a lot more than 1,500, according to data from the provincial health ministry.
Pakistan's most significant HIV testing and treatment centre was established in the rural town of Rota Dero in the wake of the disaster, dishing out life-saving anti-retroviral drugs. But influenced families must cover further costs due to the condition themselves. "They reveal to choose further tests in hostipal wards, but we don't have adequate money," Shar told AFP, describing how his son continues to suffer from regular fever, abdominal and kidney pain.
