Ilicit Drugs and AIDS

According to UNAIDS estimates, about 96,000 people were living with HIV in Pakistan at the end of 2007. As in many countries, underreporting is due mainly to the social stigma attached to HIV, limited surveillance and voluntary counseling and testing systems, and the lack of knowledge among the general population and health practitioners.

The World Bank has informed that although overall HIV prevalence is low in Pakistan, there is growing evidence of local concentrated epidemics among injecting drug users in major cities across the country. The combination of high levels of risk behavior and limited knowledge about HIV among injecting drug users and sex workers could lead to the rapid spread of HIV.

According to the 2007 AIDS epidemic update of the UN Program on AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO), HIV prevalence is increasing among injecting drug users in Pakistan. The UNAIDS surveillance report for the second quarter of 2006 stated that there are 3,047 HIV positive cases, out which 783 are injecting drug users.