PESHAWAR
\nThe Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health department has submitted PC:1 with an estimated cost of Rs2.6 billion (2600 million) for approval of a comprehensive AIDS and Hepatitis C control programme to strengthening prevention, diagnosis, and treatment services against these two fatal diseases across the province.
\nThis information is shared by Rasheed Khan, an official at Director General Health office KP while speaking during a meeting of Provincial AIDS Network, constituted by a non-governmental organization, Da Hawwa Lur with the objective of containing spread HIV besides treatment of infected patients.
\nThe meeting, held at a local hotel, focused on the annual review and strategic planning of the Provincial AIDS Network.
\nDetailing the proposed plan, Rasheed Khan said the Global Fund, an international organisation supporting efforts to combat AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, would wind up its operations and funding in Pakistan by 2030.
\n\u00abIn view of the expected reduction in international funding, the Health Department has proposed a locally financed initiative to ensure continuity of effective prevention, diagnosis and treatment services for AIDS and Hepatitis C,\u00bb he added.
\nTo expand coverage of HIV screening, a proposal is made for purchase of Rapid Diagnostic Kits at a cost of Rs. 231 million which will also be distributed among NGOs to expand scope of testing.
\nThe plan include purchase of medicines for Hepatitis C at a cost of Rs. 597 million and for Hepatitis B at Rs. 265 million.
\nAfter approval and implementation of the plan, every Hepatitis positive patient will forthwith be tested for HIV, he added.
\nA major component of the plan is Behaviour Change Campaign (BCC) for which a budget of Rs. 407 has been proposed.
\nUnder BCC initiative mass media campaigns will be launched in the province for spread awareness about reasons behind spread of HIV and Hepatitis, prevention, diagnosis and treatment measures.
\nCivil Society Organizations (CSOs) will be engaged for community mobilization and education of masses.
\nAn SMS and digital outreach is also proposed in the plan for targeting maximum number of people by sending them messages and sharing of educational videos.
\nSharing updated data, Rasheed Khan said the total number of registered HIV-positive patients in the province stood at 9,837, including 6,863 males, 2,265 females, 225 transgender persons, 279 male children and 201 female children.
\nHe further said that HIV medicines were currently being imported from India, while the government was taking steps to initiate local production.
\nSeveral pharmaceutical companies, he added, had obtained licences and expressed willingness to manufacture the medicines domestically.
\nRasheed Khan also informed that under the Prime Minister Programme for Elimination of Hepatitis C, four state of the art machines have been deployed in four divisions of KP for PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) testing.
\nThese machines will be installed in all the seven divisions of the province to provide advanced testing service in the whole province, he added.
\nEarlier, Shawana Shah, Programme Director Da Hawa Lur shared a recap of activities carried out by Provincial AIDs Network and challenges still existed for improving health care for HIV positive persons.
\nThe Network, she continued, in the outgoing year had prepared a Plan of Action for reducing HIV\/AIDs prevalence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with focus on women and transgender individuals.
\n\u00abThe plan focused on fostering partnerships with government bodies, healthcare institutions, and community-based organizations to implement sustainable and inclusive plans for reducing HIV\/AIDS cases in the province,\u00bb Shawana apprised participants of the meeting
\nFor implementation of the Action Plan, Provincial AIDs Network focused on three key intervention including prevention and awareness, treatment and care, advocacy and policy.
\nA learning and explanatory visit of Provincial AIDs Network members was arranged to ART (Anti-Retroviral Therapy) at Hayatabad Medical Centre (HMC) improving their understanding about the diagnostic and treatment measures in the province.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PESHAWAR The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health department has submitted PC:1 with an estimated cost of Rs2.6 billion (2600 million) for approval of a comprehensive AIDS and Hepatitis C control programme to strengthening prevention, diagnosis, and treatment services against these two fatal diseases across the province. This information is shared by Rasheed Khan, an official at Director […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-521866","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-peshawar"},"yoast_head":"\n