Islamabad – 14 December 2023 : The Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, Islamabad organized an ‘Awareness Workshop on Drug Use and HIV’ on 14 December 2023 in collaboration with Ministry of Narcotics Control (MONC), UNODC, UNDP, UNAIDS and WHO in Lahore. Purpose of this workshop was to create awareness among health journalists on drug abuse, HIV AIDS, HIV prevention among people who inject drugs (PWID), harm reduction and OAMT.
The one-day workshop was attended by representatives of key media houses and prominent health journalists. Dr. Farrukh Mehmood, UNODC welcomed all the participants and said that the workshop is being organized to create awareness on drug use and drug use related HIV, the various interventions/approaches for drug dependence treatment and prevention of HIV and blood borne infections transmission among PWID. Mr. Naeem Malik, Ministry of NHSR&C presented a brief background of HIV and AIDS epidemic in the country and shared other dynamics of this deadly and silent disease. He said Government of Pakistan is committed to halt the disease and putting all resources with the support of provincial AIDS Control Programs as well as UN partners and Global Fund for fight AIDS TB and Malaria. He shared that over the last decade, the disease is concentrated in certain key populations like Injecting drug users, Male sex worker and Transgender. He added that the epidemic in drug users in Pakistan is alarmingly high. He said this meeting is organized to share details of a newly initiative of OAMT which is related to address the issues related to drug users.
symptoms and therefore is able to stabilize his/her life. The injecting drug user stops injecting and sharing syringe which prevents transmission of HIV, Hepatitis and other blood borne diseases. People suffering from dependence on opioids require long-term drug treatment, rehabilitation and care. Drug dependence treatment aims at improving the health and quality of people suffering from drug dependence managed by people who are professionals and who understand the basic underlying health condition.
