Candlelight Vigil, Doctors Parade Mark World AIDS Day in Pakistan

A candlelight vigil, doctors' parades and cricket players sporting red ribbons marked Monday's World AIDS Day in Pakistan. Although the Muslim country's official figures show only 231 AIDS cases and 2,080 HIV infections among its 145 million adults, UNICEF and UNAIDS estimate true figures may be as high as 70,000-80,000. Needle sharing among Pakistan's 4 million drug addicts threatens to push the numbers higher.

Pakistan's National AIDS Control Program said this year's campaign was designed to renew commitments to fight HIV/AIDS and to involve the general public in the cause.

The program included doctors and other health workers parading in Karachi in a torch-lit rally meant to educate people about prevention. Cricket players from Pakistan and New Zealand said they would wear red ribbons during the second one-day international at Lahore to show support for HIV/AIDS patients.

In the last six months, 20 cases of HIV/AIDS were diagnosed among IV drug users in Larkana, a small town in southern Sindh province. Provincial AIDS control program manager Sharaf Ali Shah said there were no public rehabilitation centers for drug users in Sindh, and called for a comprehensive treatment strategy.

Analyst Nizamuddin Siddiqui said in an article in Karachi's daily Dawn newspaper that the 2,000-odd HIV/AIDS cases reported in Pakistan refute the notion that HIV/AIDS is not a problem in Muslim countries. He noted that an unsafe blood supply -- not screened for hepatitis and HIV -- helps spread the disease, and called for effective drug treatments. "All these steps require political commitment," he said. "Whether the authorities have this in sufficient amount remains to be seen."

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