Up to 15% of the 260 people diagnosed with HIV every month in Sindh are children

Islamabad: At least 260 people are diagnosed with HIV every month in Sindh while 10% to 15% of these cases are children, officials said, highlighting an alarming situation in the province.

Cases are particularly reported in Larkana and surrounding areas, Hyderabad, Mirpur Kas and Karachi as well.

“So far, 1,304 new HIV cases have been detected in the first five months of 2024. On an average, 260 new HIV cases are detected in the province monthly,” an official of the Sindh health department told this correspondent.

Children diagnosed with the fatal disease are under the age of 12.

Officials said reuse of syringes and IVs by unskilled professionals, malpractices, poor infection prevention and control, contaminated blood and mother-to-child transmission are major factors behind HIV transmission among children in Sindh. The news mentionted.

According to the report, the latest HIV outbreak was reported from Mirpur Khas district, where 20 children were found infected with the virus in the last six months during screenings at a nutrition stabilization center at Civil Hospital Mirpur Khas.

According to data from the Sindh health department and the Joint Management Unit (CMU) for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Islamabad, the highest number of new HIV cases in Sindh was detected in May 2024, with 293 people diagnosed with the virus.

“In January and February 2024, 257 people, including children, were diagnosed with HIV each month. In March, 258 new HIV cases were detected, followed by 239 in April and 293 in May,” the health ministry official clarified.

Regarding the recent HIV cases among children in Mirpur Khas, the official stressed that this was “only a fraction” of the new cases reported in Sindh.

Of the 260 new HIV cases that occur each month, 50-60 are children, he claimed.

Commenting on the HIV situation in Mirpur Khas district, Sindh Health Ministry’s Deputy Director General of Communicable Disease Control (CDC), Dr Zulfiqar Dharejo confirmed that 20 children were found infected across the district from January to June 2024.

Two of these children had died, while the remaining 18 were receiving ART treatment, he added.