Ali Hassan
Punjab Health Minister Dr. Yasmin Rashid called for enhanced awareness among the youth about HIV/AIDS Stigma reduction and its modes of transmission at World AIDS Day seminar 2020 held here on Tuesday.
Punjab Secretary Primary and Secondary Healthcare Capt (Retd) Usman Younis, UNAIDS Country Director for Pakistan & Afghanistan Dr. Maria Elena Fillia Borromeo, Director General Health Services Punjab Dr. Haroon Jehangir, Vice Chancellor of Punjab’s leading Universities, Project Director Punjab AIDS Control Program Dr. Munir Ahmed, Managers of all Vertical Programs, representatives of WHO, UNICEF and a large number of media representatives.
The health minister said that raising awareness among university students about communicable diseases, especially HIV/AIDS is of paramount importance as the disease is spreading at an alarming pace. She emphasized that removing stigma attached with HIV/AIDS must be the prime focus of the campaign.
The minister said, “I am grateful to the Vice Chancellors for coming forward for a great cause. The role of Academia is integral to generating awareness among youth on prevention and control of communicable diseases. We must discourage the trend of using injections for treatment by healthcare providers and public. Injection must be used only when it becomes extremely necessary. Use of infected syringes, surgical/piercing instruments and unsafe blood transfusion are major causes of HIV spread in Punjab. Punjab has been running one of the world’s largest Thalaessemia Programs and some years back we discovered that some patients had caught HIV/AIDS through unsafe blood transfusion.”
The minister said that awareness in universities was key to educating the society. Giving example of Covid-19 spread, she said just as by use of mask we can reduce the risk of Corona spread by up to 70 per cent, by prevention we can reduce risk of spread of other communicable diseases considerably.
Dr. Yasmin Rashid further said, “It is important to reduce negative perceptions attached with the disease. This MoU with leading Universities is a milestone in spreading awareness on HIV/AIDS. We want to see a healthy Pakistan as per vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan. The awareness campaign in educational institutions have already started.
Later responding to questions of journalists, she said Nawaz Sharif must come back to the country as per his promise. She said the political processions and meetings were risking lives of people and were potential cause of spread of Covid-19. She said she had appealed to the Opposition to stop political gatherings due to the Pandemic.
