Name: Pakistan faces rapid HIV spread due to unsafe medical practices
Uploaded: 2025-12-01T23:42:00.356Z
Duration: 2 min 8 s
Description: Pakistan could record over 14,000 new HIV cases in 2025, driven largely by unregulated medical practices such as unsafe transfusions, reused syringes, and unlicensed clinics.

Pakistan could record over 14,000 new HIV cases in 2025, driven largely by unregulated medical practices such as unsafe transfusions, reused syringes, and unlicensed clinics.

Sindh

In Sindh, Pakistan, a significant increase in HIV cases among children has been reported, with nearly 4,000 affected across the province. The spread is attributed to unsafe medical practices, including the reuse of syringes and treatment by unlicensed practitioners, known locally as quack doctors. 

Families of affected children face financial burdens due to ongoing medical expenses and social stigma, with many children unable to attend school. Nationally, over 290,000 people are living with HIV in Pakistan, but only a small fraction are aware of their status or receiving treatment.

Pakistan faces rapid HIV spread due to unsafe medical practices

In this village in Sindh, daily life of Shami Bibi, mother of four, has turned upside down. Six months ago, her nine-year-old daughter Rahila contracted HIV after receiving a blood transfusion in a local hospital. Last year, at least 150 children tested positive for HIV in the Mirpur Khas district. She has respiratory problems. The doctor diagnosed her with anemia, deeming a blood transfusion necessary. After this, her condition deteriorated rapidly. She lost consciousness. Tests revealed she had HIV. We didn't know what it was. A relative explained it and we were devastated. The doctor said she might not survive, and if she did, she would carry the disease for the rest of her life. Rahila's HIV treatment is free, but the family still spends about one euro a day on additional medicines and transport to the hospital. Roughly half of what her father earns as a day wage labour. I don't leave the house. I stay inside because when I go out, the children hit me and tell me to stay away because I'm sick. I used to love going to school, but my mother tells me I can't go because I have this illness. Across Sindh, nearly 4,000 children are HIV positive, a crisis driven by dangerous medical practices. In this clandestine clinic, 24-year-old Abdul Karim, a nursing student, treats 80 patients a day. He has neither a diploma nor a medical license. One of more than 600,000 quack doctors operating in the province. A consultation costs 30 cents. Medications are handed out without prescriptions, hygiene standards are ignored and syringes are often reused. Real doctors are very expensive. They charge high fees. The villagers are poor and have to pay for transportation and are prescribed costly medications. But self-taught practitioners like us charge low fees and the medicines included. That's why people prefer to come to us. In Pakistan, more than 290,000 people are living with HIV, but only 23% know their status and barely 15% are receiving treatment.

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