There are cases of HIV/AIDS in the west of Afghanistan. Investigations reveal there was a 5 percent increase in numbers over the last year.
There are cases of HIV/AIDS in the west of Afghanistan. Investigations reveal there was a 5 percent increase in numbers over the last year.
Some 167 cases have been recorded. Eighteen have died of AIDS, and many more are under treatment. Roughly 95 percent are males in Herat, Badghis, Nimroz and Ghor; five women and two children were reportedly infected in Herat.
Dr Aref Shahram, in-charge of the department of HIV and venereal diseases (VD) in the west, says 16 of the 167 cases were recorded in Farah, Ghor, Badghis and Nimroz. The virus has spread among drug addicts sharing needles. Many among the addicts were refugees in Iran, Pakistan, and Turkmenistan.
He says counsellors visit the addicts to encourage them to test for HIV in government-run centres. Those who test positive are treated at the centre. The authorities have trained some 300 maulvis and women’s affairs departments to spread awareness about HIV-AIDS.
Sayed Mahdi who recently returned from Iran is HIV positive. He says he was doing drugs in Iran. “We were not familiar with HIV/AIDS. I got infected by this illness in Iran. When I came to Herat, a blood sample was taken and I was told about my condition,” he says.
Ibrahim, another drug addict in Herat, knows he is infected by HIV, and is very remorseful. He does not think the virus was transmitted through sharing needles since he had injected drugs only for a month. He thinks he was probably infected through a blood transfusion from a relative.
Officials in the counter narcotics department in Herat say they have conducted surveys to estimate there are some 600,000 addicts in the province.
Ghulam Jailani Daqeeq says 7 percent of prisoners in Herat jail have HIV/AIDS. They can be treated in the 285-bed hospital for addicts.
General Abdullah Azizi, the head of Herat Jail, estimates there are 600 drug addicts among the prisoners. There are 318 in Block 2. The prisoners are affected by different illnesses.
Dr Shahram says the problem is not just in Herat Jail. The prison in Farah has five cases of HIV/AIDS patients. Infected prisoners in both prisons are under the care of the department of AIDS and VD.
Treatment facilities
There are only two treatment centres in the country: in Herat and Kabul. Abdul Jabar Shayeq, the head of health in Farah wants the government to set up a centre in Farah since the province shares a border with Iran. He insists the number of infected is increasing every year. It rose to nine cases in Farah last year whereas earlier it was one.
The authorities in the Nimroz health department are also struggling with the problem of no treatment centre. Dr Noor Ahmad Sherzad, the head, says they have received instructions to shift patients to Herat for treatment. But this is impractical, he says, urging the central government to establish a centre for Nimroz. Five percent of the total number of reported cases is from the province. Feda Mohammad Paikan, head of National Programme of Control of HIV/AIDS in the Ministry of Health told Killid that treatment centres would be established in Farah and Nimroz this year. According to him, all clinics are expected to report cases of HIV/AIDS when they see the symptoms in individuals. Dr Shahram says the efforts to counter HIV/AIDS are restricted to urban areas where the majority of drug addicts live. Efforts to spread awareness of the hazards of sharing a needle among drug addicts were a failure in the border districts of Herat province, according to him.
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