Pakistan's efforts to curb HIV 'hindered by lack of resources'
05/02/2010
Pakistan does not have the resources in place to effectively combat the spread if HIV, it has been asserted.
According to the UN, the country's HIV epidemic has moved from a "low to a concentrated one" in recent years."In part, the region's comparatively heavy burden of injecting drug use stems from the presence of long-standing trafficking routes for illicit opium," the organisation noted.
The overall prevalence of the disease among drug users in Pakistan has risen from 10.8 per cent in 2005 to 21 per cent in 2008.
Resources that have been provided by the government, the World Bank and bilateral agencies are not sufficient enough to create a long-term strategy, the UN claimed.
Medecins Sans Frontieres recently compiled a list of the most serious humanitarian crises of 2009, highlighting Pakistan for the "intense violence" that is currently threatening the health and wellbeing of people living in the country.
Written by Clare Devlin 
