JALALABAD - Poverty, unemployment and lack of public awareness are major causes of increased HIV/AIDS cases in Afghanistan, the All Afghanistan Federation of Trade Union (AAFTU) chief said on Wednesday.
Dr. Mohammad Liaqat Adil, speaking at a conference “Let’s rescue our work force from AIDS” in Jalalabad, said unemployment had increased in the country, giving rise poverty and HIV/AIDS cases.
He assailed the government, particularly the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), for launching effective public awareness programmes despite spending a lot of money on eradicating HIV/AIDS.
A large number of returning Afghan refugees also contributed to increasing unemployment, an issue that needed serious attention from the government, the senior trade unionist said.
But a doctor at the Nangarhar Public Health Department, Noor Hassan Basharyar, said the government had made remarkable efforts for eliminating HIV and AIDS and public awareness on the issue had increased.
He added besides the public awareness programmes, the MoPH had also launched other initiatives for the prevention of the deadly disease in society, detention centers, drug addicts using injections and transmission of the virus from affected mothers to their babies.
Public awareness has been spread to 11,000 school students, 2,500 university students and people at a large number of public places, like public toilets, in Nangarhar province, Hassan said.
However, social discrimination against the HIV-affected people is great challenge, but the MoPH this year plans to launch a conference under ‘Please stop discrimination’ on World AIDS Day.
The MoPH has not yet put a figure on the number of affected people, but based on some reports, 1,874 positive AIDS cases were registered in 2014, including 327 women and 66 children. (Pajhwok)