KARACHI: The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) has sounded a “high-alert” over what it termed a rapidly worsening HIV outbreak among children in Sindh, urging the government to enforce strict infection control and shut down illegal health facilities and unlicensed blood banks.
According to the PMA, Sindh has now registered 3,995 HIV-positive children, with more than 100 new cases reported in Karachi in 2025 alone.
“This escalating outbreak has evolved beyond a medical emergency and is turning into a socio-economic disaster,” the PMA noted, adding that rising treatment expenses, loss of income, and long-term care are driving families deeper into poverty and debt.
Stigma also remains a major obstacle, with reports of children being denied schooling and affected families being socially isolated — a trend that pushes the epidemic out of sight and out of formal systems.
The association also criticised the Sindh AIDS Control Programme (SACP) for inefficiency, arguing that despite the 2019 Ratodero scandal, infection control in healthcare settings remains largely neglected.
The PMA demanded an immediate, independent audit of the SACP and greater accountability from the provincial health department. “The government must answer why years of international assistance and billions in public funds have failed to protect children from healthcare-based transmission,” it said
The organisation warned that Pakistan risks creating a generation of socially and economically marginalised young people who will ultimately add pressure to the state’s already struggling economy.
To halt further spread, the PMA urged provincial and federal authorities to investigate alleged funding gaps in the SACP, revive the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP), and strictly enforce laws against quack clinics.
The association also called for province-wide monitoring of hair salons and barber shops, including a total prohibition on reused blades and mandatory sterilisation of instruments. It recommended pursuing criminal charges against individuals and facility owners found responsible for unsafe practices linked to HIV transmission.
Other demands included enforcing the Sindh HIV and AIDS Control Treatment and Protection Act to prevent discrimination in workplaces and schools, regulating waste disposal in hospitals, and a “zero-tolerance policy” toward syringe reuse.
Pakistan currently has the second-fastest-growing HIV epidemic in the Asia-Pacific region. “Administrative silence and inaction are no longer acceptable,” the PMA said, insisting that those responsible must face consequences before the country absorbs long-term social and economic damage.