Hundreds of children infected with HIV in Pakistani village due to dirty needles and contaminated blood

About 70 per cent of Pakistan’s 220 million people use private health care sector, which is mostly unregulated and rarely monitored for cleanliness and safety

Doctors are urging Pakistan’s government to better understand how the virus went from high-risk groups such as drug users and sex workers to general population

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A Pakistani mother kisses her son Ali Raza, 10, reportedly infected with HIV. Photo: AP

Published: 1:34pm, 20 Dec 2019Updated: 1:36pm, 20 Dec 2019

A group of Pakistani doctors blames a recent outbreak of HIV among children in a southern city on poor health care practices such as using dirty needles and contaminated blood, according to a statement released on Friday.

The doctors are also urging Pakistan’s government to do more to understand how the virus went from high-risk groups such as drug users and sex workers to the general population. They also warned that there isn’t enough medication in the city of Ratodero, in southern Sindh province, where 591 children need medical treatment.

The outbreak is extremely worrying, said the doctors, calling it “one of the worst” in Pakistan. They studied medical data of 31,239 people in Ratodero, where the HIV outbreak took place and who agreed to the study.

Out of that group, 930 were positive for HIV, with 604 of them being younger than five years of age and 763 younger than 16 years, according to the study published the international Lancet Infectious Disease Journal.

By the end of July when the study was being completed, only one in three children had started antiretroviral treatment “due to an inadequate supply of drugs and a lack of trained staff,” the statement said.

The study said 50 of the children examined are showing signs of “severe immunodeficiency” but did not specify if they have full-blown Aids.