Authorities are investigating whether a doctor in the Pakistani district of Larkana deliberately spread HIV. More than 500 people, including 410 children, have been diagnosed with the virus in the past few weeks.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/R. Tabassum
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Sikandar Memon, head of the AIDS Control Program in Pakistan's southern Sindh province, said earlier this week that 410 children and 100 adults had tested positive for HIV in Larkana.
Pakistan's Health Ministry has registered 23,000 HIV cases across the country. Officials said the use of unsterilized syringes causes most HIV infections in the country.
The HIV cases in Larkana, a home district of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, started emerging in early April. Local physician Muzaffar Ghangharo, who has AIDS, was arrested on suspicion of intentionally infecting his patients.
HIV's spread in Larkana was "due to a quack" reusing syringes with "no care in regards to infection control measures," the National AIDS Control Programme Pakistan (NACP) claimed.
The HIV epidemic in Pakistan highlights the poor state of health care in the South Asian country, particularly the Sindh province, which has been governed mostly by the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) of slain PM Benazir Bhutto since 1971.
The provincial government has come under sharp criticism from civil society for its inability to improve health conditions for the rural population and not acting swiftly to tackle the spread of HIV in Larkana.
The NACP said its team of health officials is working closely with experts from UN agencies following the outbreak.
The organization said it has been directed by the government to support patients by providing all possible treatment facilities along with prevention and control measures.
Many different approaches to tackling HIV/AIDS in Africa
Because knowledge is power, this year’s theme for World Aids Day on December 1st is "Know your status." Awareness makes the fight against AIDS more effective. But not every African president has led by example.
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Deadly denialism
Former South African president Thabo Mbeki (1999 - 2008) went down in history as the foremost African denier of AIDS. Against all scientific evidence he maintained that HIV did not cause AIDS. He instructed his health officials to combat the disease with herbal remedies. Experts believe his denialism cost up to 300,000 lives. Some have called for Mbeki to be tried for crimes against humanity.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/G. Khan
A president as traditional healer
In 2007 former Gambian president Yahya Jammeh (1996 - 2017) forced AIDS patients to undergo a cure that he had personally developed. It turned out to be a concoction based on herbs; an unknown number of people died. Jammeh, who claimed that he had mystic powers, is the first African head of state to be tried for violating the rights of HIV-positive people.
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'Take a shower'
Another former South African head of state to make headlines for an unconventional take on AIDS was Jacob Zuma (2009 - 2018). After being charged with raping an HIV-positive woman in 2006, Zuma said he was not at risk of infection, despite not using a condom, because he had "taken a shower afterwards." In 2010 he disclosed the negative results of his AIDS test, to fight the stigma, he said.
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No condoms?
Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni took his time before joining the fight against the epidemic. As late as 2004, during an international AIDS conference in Thailand, he downplayed the effectiveness of condoms, alleging, among other things, that they ran counter to some African sexual practices. "We don’t think we can become universally condomised," he said. His remarks were met with laughter.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/I. Langsdon
A tax to fund treatment
Some action taken by African heads of state to fight the scourge did not go down well at home. A tax introduced in 1999 by Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe (1987-2017) to help orphans and sufferers met with resistance. It is still in place today. In 2004 Mugabe admitted that his own family had been affected by AIDS. He said the disease was "one of the greatest challenges facing our nation."
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/T. Mukwazhi
A shining example
Fear of economic repercussions affecting, for example, tourism, is one reason why African leaders have been reluctant to acknowledge the threat. But President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia (1964-1991) announced as early as 1987 that one of his sons had died of AIDS. In 2002 he was the first African leader to take an AIDS test. He still fights against AIDS today.
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Bid to make tests compulsory
The fight against AIDS by Kaunda’s successor Edgar Lungu met with some hitches when he tried to make AIDS-testing compulsory in Zambia. Lungu said in 2016 that the policy was non-negotiable. But a huge outcry in Zambia and abroad forced him to backpedal especially as the World Health Organization made clear that compulsion encourages the stigmatization of HIV-positive people.
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Championing an HIV-free Africa
After leaving office, Festus Mogae, former president of Botswana (1998-2008), launched Champions for an AIDS-Free Generation, which brings together a number of former African presidents and other influential personalities eager to help fight the scourge. They hope that their experience and influence will enable them to exert pressure on governments and partners to invest in AIDS prevention.
