KEY POINTS
- Over 8,300 HIV cases reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with the highest numbers in Peshawar and Bannu.
- Patients face isolation due to widespread misconceptions about HIV transmission.
- Only 13 government-run HIV centres operate across 38 districts, leaving many with limited access to proper treatment.
- The virus is spreading rapidly among drug users, transgender individuals, and young people due to lack of awareness.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan: Thirty-five-year-old Shahid Khan, who used to work as a truck driver in Dubai, returned home earlier this year after a long haul.
His family warmly welcomed him at Bacha Khan International Airport in Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which shares over a thousand kilometres of border with war-torn Afghanistan.
Hailing from the remote tribal district of North Waziristan—which also shares multiple border points with Afghanistan—he comes from a region that has long been an epicentre of both domestic and cross-border terrorism.
Before returning to his home country, he suffered from persistent high fever. His condition remained unchanged in Pakistan, prompting him to visit a hospital in his village.
“The doctor advised me to get myself and my wife, who had also been suffering from acute fever for a while, examined at the Hayatabad Family Centre in Peshawar,” he recalls.
Friends and relatives kept them at arm’s length, leaving the couple to navigate their struggles alone.
The couple eventually visited the centre where multiple laboratory tests confirmed them positive for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).
“I had no idea I had contracted the devastating virus and eventually it was transmitted to my wife as well,” he tells WE News English.
Branded for life
Khan found himself trapped in a double-edged sword. Instead of receiving support and sympathy, he and his wife faced an unspoken exile in the rigid tribal society of North Waziristan.
Friends and relatives kept them at arm’s length, leaving the couple to navigate their struggles alone.
In Pakistan, widespread misconceptions about HIV persist. Many believe it is transmitted solely through sexual intercourse, ignoring other common modes of transmission such as blood transfusions, shared infected syringes, razors, and even toothbrushes.
A growing health crisis
The Integrated HIV, Hepatitis and Thalassemia Control Program (IHHTCP) has reported 8,356 HIV cases in the province. Among them, 6,105 of them are men, 2,080 are female, and 171 are transgender individuals.
An area-wise breakdown reveals that 1,378 cases originate from the merged districts, while 352 are Afghan nationals. Additionally, 112 cases are from Punjab, 33 from Sindh, and five each from Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu & Kashmir and Islamabad.
For the 2024-2025 period, Peshawar recorded the highest number of HIV-positive patients (1,274), followed by Bannu (900). Other affected districts include: Mardan (314), Charsadda (307), Swat (300), Lakki Marwat (285), Lower Dir (255), Swabi (241), Nowshera (227), Kohat (214), Dera Ismail Khan (164), Karak (125), Upper Dir (124), Abbottabad (121), Buner (103), Battagram (41) and Shangla (63).
The report also highlights the primary modes of HIV transmission. It states that 5,126 people were affected due to sexual contact, 1,102 people from injectable syringes, and 818 people from blood transfusions from an HIV-positive individual.
A 2021 report by HIV/AIDS Data Hub for Asia Pacific estimated that Pakistan had approximately 210,000 people living with HIV. This included 170,000 male and 41,000 female. Among them, 4,600 are children below 15 years.
Claims versus reality
Dr. Fariduddin Khan, who has been in-charge of the surveillance team at Bacha Khan International Airport for four years, claims that airport authorities identify and separate travellers with high temperatures.
He states the doctors conduct an initial examination, and serious cases are referred to Police Hospital Peshawar for further testing.
He stresses the need for beefing up screening centres at airports, equipped with cutting-edge laboratories and other related facilities to detect passengers carrying chronic viral infections.
“The government is solely focused on treatment, with no focus on creating awareness within the community to control its spread.” – Shahwana Shah, rights activist.
On the other hand, Zahid Khan, 30, who recently landed at Bacha Khan International Airport from the United Arab Emirates, refutes these claims.
“There was no mechanism in place to search or diagnose passengers for chronic diseases at the airport. If proper monitoring system existed, the country wouldn’t have witnessed the spread of monkeypox virus,” he argues.
An alarming situation
Shawana Shah, a rights activist, works with Da Hawa Kor, a Peshawar-based non-profit organisation. The organisation’s name, derived from Pashto, translates to ‘the daughter of Eve.
She tells WENews English that only 13 HIV centres are currently functional in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, despite having a huge number of HIV-affected patients. “We’ve 38 districts, and each district should have at least one government-run HIV centre,” she suggests.
Shah emphasises that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and IHHTCP currently lack a roadmap to combat the spread of HIV. “The government is solely focused on treatment, with no focus on creating awareness within the community to control its spread,” she asserts.
Referring to the anti-drug campaign launched in Peshawar in October last year, Shah highlights that around 5,000 addicts were arrested and sent to the rehabilitation centre, where they received free treatment and food.
A person can also contract this virus through shared syringes or contaminated blood transfusions.” – Shabbir Khan.
“Among them over 40 tested HIV positive,” she reveals, warning that the virus is spreading like wildfire among youth and students.
Shah also points out that HIV is prevalent among transgender and homosexual individuals, with youth engaging in sexual relations at a particularly high risk of contracting the virus.
Lost in misconceptions
Shabbir Khan, 41, a senior medical technician at the Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar, has been working with HIV-positive patients for the last 15 years.
Interacting daily with people from diverse backgrounds, he observes that most HIV-positive patients arrive with pale faces and a heavy psychological burden due to social stigma. “However, after counselling, they gradually regain a sense of normalcy,” he explains.
Shabbir emphasises that while HIV is often linked to sexual transmission, it is not the only mode of transmission, contrary to the common misconceptions. “A person can also contract this virus through shared syringes or contaminated blood transfusions,” he clarifies.
Too little, too late
Dr. Tariq Hayat, director of the Integrated HIV, Hepatitis and Thalassemia Control Program, tells WE News English that the programme provides free treatment, checkups, and even travel facilities to HIV-positive individuals.
“Currently, we have 13 centres equipped with all necessary facilities for HIV patients,” he claims, adding that the provincial government has recently released Rs. 40 million for the HIV programme, with plans to expand services to more districts across the province.
Nevertheless, critics argue that Rs. 40 million is merely a drop in the ocean compared to the scale of the crisis.
