Altaf Arshad
WHO HIV, Hepatitis and STI Programmes, Switzerland.
J Pak Med Assoc. 2020 Nov;70(11):2046-2047. doi: 10.5455/JPMA.30590.
Only 10% of HIV positive individuals in Pakistan are receiving anti-retroviral therapy (ART) and the dropout rate from HIV treatment is extremely high. This short report attempts to highlight the risk of ART resistance. Pakistan National AIDS Control Programme's website reports 15,390 HIV positive persons receiving ART out of which 4,697 (30.5%) are people who inject drugs (PWIDs) among whom HIV prevalence is reported to be 38.4%. In the two large provinces of the country (Punjab and Sindh) with more than 90% burden of HIV, ART was initiated in 2,807 patients between April and September 2018, out of these 37% were lost to follow up. Many patients have cited issues related to quality of service at the ART centres as one of the reasons to not revisiting the treatment centres. HIV planners in Pakistan urgently need to make a new strategy and improve not only the quality of services but also increase the number of HIV positive persons receiving ART.
在巴基斯坦，只有10%的艾滋病毒呈阳性者正在接受抗逆转录病毒疗法（ART），而且艾滋病毒治疗的辍学率极高。本简短报告试图强调抗逆转录病毒疗法耐药性的风险。巴基斯坦国家艾滋病控制项目网站报告称，有15390名艾滋病毒呈阳性者正在接受抗逆转录病毒疗法，其中4697人（30.5%）为注射吸毒者（PWIDs），据报告他们的艾滋病毒感染率为38.4%。在该国艾滋病毒负担超过90%的两个大省（旁遮普省和信德省），2018年4月至9月期间有2807名患者开始接受抗逆转录病毒疗法，其中37%的患者失访。许多患者将抗逆转录病毒疗法中心的服务质量问题作为不再前往治疗中心的原因之一。巴基斯坦的艾滋病毒规划者迫切需要制定新战略，不仅要提高服务质量，还要增加接受抗逆转录病毒疗法的艾滋病毒呈阳性者的数量。
