ISLAMABAD: Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, in collaboration with Common Management Unit for AIDS, TB and Malaria, UNAIDS, WHO, UNDP UNICEF, UNFPA, UNODC, APLHIV commemorated World AIDS Day 2022.
This year theme of the World AIDS Day is “Equalize” that is a slogan is a call to action to increase availability, quality of services for HIV treatment, testing and prevention. Equalize calls for communities to make use of and adapt the message to highlight the particular inequalities they face and to press for the actions needed to address them.
During the event, World AIDS Day Report 2022 was launched by Mr. Abdul Qadir Patel, Honorable Federal Minister, and said that “Government of Pakistan, at both the national and provincial levels, despite competing priorities and fiscal limitations, and with the support of partners like UNAIDS, UNDP, WHO, UNFPA, UNICEF, and other stakeholders has strived to provide HIV prevention and treatment services through high impact community-based HIV prevention programme. We are going to revise national and provincial AIDS Strategies, setting the plan of action in the light of global guidance that show support from the government to create an enabling environment with multi-sectoral engagement to address legislative, socio-cultural-economic, religious, political, legal, and financial determinants that can influence HIV awareness, education, prevention, care, treatment and support initiatives”
“There is a need to initiate national prevention revolution, that includes all available options to stop the transmission of HIV including protection commodities, immediate initiation of antiretroviral therapy and pre-exposure prophylaxis. Specific populations and locations require additional tools such as harm reduction (needle–syringe and opioid substitution therapy programmes) for people who inject drugs. Community-led responses are proving to be game changers in reducing inequalities and supporting effective and resilient HIV responses” says Mirza Nasir-ud-Din Mashhood Ahmad, Special Secretary Health, Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination.
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