WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean: WHO and partners mobilize antiretroviral drugs for HIV-positive children in Pakistan

The WHO regional office for the Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO) released a statement about the recent HIV outbreak in Pakistan. According to the statement, “WHO deployed an international team to investigate and control the HIV outbreak in Larkana … Of those infected, 82% (741) are children under 15 years of age. Although preliminary findings indicate that unsafe injection practices and poor infection control are the cause of the large number of HIV infections among children, the local health authority, with the support of WHO, is currently undertaking a case-control study to identify the cause and the source of the outbreak and the outcome of the study is expected soon. To control the outbreak, WHO and health partners, including Pakistan’s Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination, is planning to urgently scale up the treatment of patients who have tested positive, prevent further transmission and tackle the root causes of the outbreak, as laid out in a US$ 1 million response plan” (8/27).