Huda
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ACCORDING to a report by the International Narcotics Control Board, Pakistan is one of the top drug user countries, with nearly five million drug addicts. It is shocking.
The report shows that the use of drug and narcotics in Pakistan grows at an alarming rate of seven per cent annually, which means we have seven more for every hundred drug addicts each passing year.
Numerically, it is 350,000 new drug addicts in addition to the old ones that we will have in our streets, open grounds, on heaps of garbage, railway platforms and in roadside dens and deep grottos, which will ultimately be their new abodes at the end of this year.
Apart from this horrible fact, there is a clear link between using drugs through injections and receiving HIV. It is believed by the authorities concerned that a major portion of present HIV positive patients in Pakistan is from this lot. As a result, drug abuse leaves a permanent threat to the life of those infected with Aids, and to their spouses and children.
Our national Aids control programme puts the number of HIV-positive patients at 97400. Can anybody dare ask them how many of five million drug addicts they have really tested? There is a big question mark over the efficient working of this programme under the ministry of health.
Among drug users, HIV transmission can occur through sharing needles and other injection paraphernalia such as cotton swabs and syringes. Drugs can be taken in a variety of ways, including drinking, smoking, snorting and rubbing, but it is the injection of drugs that creates the biggest risk of HIV transmission.
The Initiator Human Development Foundation on April 25, 2008, completed a survey on street children of Karachi and surprised the audience by declaring that 92 per cent of street children took different kinds of drugs. Can anybody dare ask our Anti-Narcotics Force and the police department how these unfortunate and socially ignored people easily get these illicit drugs in the shape of marijuana, morphine, opium, cocaine and heroin.
Many local and international NGOs, including UNAIDS, have put their heads together to control the rate of HIV spread. Ensuring smooth supply of disposable syringes to injection-drug users and organising programmes on awareness of preventive measures are worth mentioning. However, there is still much to be desired.
SAHITO ZAHEER
Kashmore
The report shows that the use of drug and narcotics in Pakistan grows at an alarming rate of seven per cent annually, which means we have seven more for every hundred drug addicts each passing year.
Numerically, it is 350,000 new drug addicts in addition to the old ones that we will have in our streets, open grounds, on heaps of garbage, railway platforms and in roadside dens and deep grottos, which will ultimately be their new abodes at the end of this year.
Apart from this horrible fact, there is a clear link between using drugs through injections and receiving HIV. It is believed by the authorities concerned that a major portion of present HIV positive patients in Pakistan is from this lot. As a result, drug abuse leaves a permanent threat to the life of those infected with Aids, and to their spouses and children.
Our national Aids control programme puts the number of HIV-positive patients at 97400. Can anybody dare ask them how many of five million drug addicts they have really tested? There is a big question mark over the efficient working of this programme under the ministry of health.
Among drug users, HIV transmission can occur through sharing needles and other injection paraphernalia such as cotton swabs and syringes. Drugs can be taken in a variety of ways, including drinking, smoking, snorting and rubbing, but it is the injection of drugs that creates the biggest risk of HIV transmission.
The Initiator Human Development Foundation on April 25, 2008, completed a survey on street children of Karachi and surprised the audience by declaring that 92 per cent of street children took different kinds of drugs. Can anybody dare ask our Anti-Narcotics Force and the police department how these unfortunate and socially ignored people easily get these illicit drugs in the shape of marijuana, morphine, opium, cocaine and heroin.
Many local and international NGOs, including UNAIDS, have put their heads together to control the rate of HIV spread. Ensuring smooth supply of disposable syringes to injection-drug users and organising programmes on awareness of preventive measures are worth mentioning. However, there is still much to be desired.
SAHITO ZAHEER
Kashmore
