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He directed that vigorous awareness campaign should be launched with the collaboration of NGOs and civil society regarding prevention of this disease.
The health secretary was presiding over a meeting to review the one year programme of Provincial AIDS Control Programme. Deputy Secretary (Admn Sualeha Saeed,Project Director Punjab AIDS Control Programme, Dr. Salman Shahid and other officers attended the meeting, stated a hand out.
Dr. Salman Shahid informed that there were 2693 reported HIV affected persons in Punjab and majority of them belong to Lahore, Gujrat, Sargodha, Faislaabad and Dera Ghazi Khan.
He said that six Voluntary Counseling Testing Centers (VCT), 12 Surveillance Centers, 6 treatment centers for adults, one center for children and 3 Prevention of Parent to Child Transmission Centers (PPTCT) were functional in Punjab.
The meeting was further informed that a new PPTCT center and a VCT center have also been established at DHQ hospital Gujrat in May last.
He said that all the registered AIDS patients were receiving ARV medicines free of cost He said that 2 new AIDS treatment centers were established at DG Khan and Gujrat in November 2010 and May.
For the first time in Punjab an Independent Specialized Paediatric Center for HIV Positive children was established at Services Hospital Lahore. Similarly,for the first time a Central Data Coordinating Unit for HIV surveillance established at PACP.
For the first time in Punjab an MIS system for treatment centers was implemented for integration of data of registered patients in 5 centers in Punjab.
The meeting was informed that Punjab became the first province in Pakistan to appoint Case Managers for outreach at DG Khan and Gujrat to implement the PPTCT District Model Approach.
Special Secretary Health, Wasim Mukhtar highlighted support from UNAIDS and UNICEF for AIDS response and appreciated their contribution.
Secretary Health Mohammad Jehanzeb Khan expressed commitment of Health Department to support the new initiatives for AIDS patients.
He directed to establish a network of NGOs involved in services for HIV/AIDS. He also asked to hold capacity building meetings at regular intervals.
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