LAHORE: Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital CEO Dr Faisal Sultan on Wednesday said acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is still one of the greatest public health challenges.
Speaking at the hospital on World AIDS Day, he said there are 36.7 million people are suffering from AIDS. The development of antiretroviral therapy (ART) marks the latest advancement in the treatment of HIV due to which HIV positive patients can now expect to lead a long and healthy life.
AIDS is the last stage of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), when the body can no longer fight life-threatening infections. A patient is diagnosed when his CD4 count falls below the defined threshold.
Sultan further shared that the disease exists in almost every country, saying that the symptoms of AIDS include consistent weight loss, skin diseases and repeated occurrence of infections such as pneumonia. He emphasised to educate people about the ways to prevent transmission of HIV such as avoiding used syringes, transfusion of unscreened blood and unprotected sex. HIV is mainly transmitted through blood and sexual intercourse.
He added that the current advancement in medicine has helped in controlling this disease to a great extent.
According to the National AIDS Control Programme, Pakistan has about 100,000 patients suffering from the disease. Dr Sultan noted that due to the cooperation of the Punjab AIDS Control Programme, facilities to provide treatment and other services to these patients are now available across Punjab.
