Islamabad: Consumer Rights Commission of Pakistan (CRCP) on the occasion of World AIDS Day, which is observed on December 1 every year throughout the world, has expressed deep concerns over the increasing menace of AIDS in Pakistan. It said that AIDS was catastrophic because millions of people who become infected, get sick and die helplessly and therefore, there was a need to take effective efforts at a large scale to combat the disease.

CRCP secretary general Mian Abar Hafeez, while deliberating on the overall situation of AIDS in Pakistan, said that the prevalence of the disease in the country was low as compared to many other countries such as India and Africa but due to lack of awareness and social taboos, HIV virus was spreading fast in Pakistan for the last few years. A total of 1, 39 HIV positive registered cases have been found in Pakistan after conduct of 3 million tests. However, World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations' programme UNAIDS estimate that there are 50,000 to 80,000 unreported HIV cases in Pakistan. Young men between 10 and 25 years of age are the most effected ones. "Only an extraordinary national response can reverse its spread" Mr. Abrar Hafeez said. "To share the government efforts to create awareness about AIDS, CRCP has initiated and AIDS & Hepatitis awareness campaign in the rural areas" he said.

CRCP secretary general, while highlighting the history of AIDS, said that the disease was widespread in many countries before scientists came to know about its existence. The first AIDS case was reported in 1981. In the last 20 years, more than 56 million people have been infected with HIV- almost equal to the population of United Kingdom. HIV is fundamentally a sexually transmitted virus, which is transmitted by both heterosexual and homosexual intercourses. This is the main mode of transmission, being responsible for probably 90% of cases of infections. Some 22 million people have died of AIDS-related illnesses; 4.3 million of them were children. According to UN and WHO report, 90% of the recently AIDS affected people belong to developing countries. Last year 20 million people have been reported of getting infected with AIDS.

He said that CRCP appreciated the efforts of the Government of Pakistan to combat this epidemic, but government alone cannot achieve lasting success. A more comprehensive and wide-ranging campaign needs to be launched to collaborate with other constituencies - civil society, business, young people and the media etc. CRCP maintained that civil society organizations, especially those groups that represent people living with HIV/AIDS, could funnel the vigour of community activism into the larger response, help mobilize new activities and focus attention on neglected aspects of the epidemic. CRCP urged the need of a comprehensive awareness drive in rural areas of Pakistan as well. Due to lack of awareness about this epidemic, the rural population is more likely to be affected by this virus.