Say disease can be prevented if Islamic teachings are followed
PESHAWAR: Health experts on Thursday stressed the need for raising awareness about HIV/AIDS in society and suggested that the incurable disease could be prevented if the teachings of Islam are followed in society. They were speaking at a seminar held at the Khyber Medical College (KMC).
The Department of Community Medicine had organised the informative event, where 4th year students of the college presented research papers about background, causes of transmission and preventive measures of the deadly disease, HIV/AIDS.
Principal KMC Prof Ijaz Hasan Khan chaired the session, where Prof Dr Bushra Iftikhar, head of the department, Dr Mohammad Naeem, and other doctors and students were present. The experts said that most of the people got infected for lack of proper awareness about AIDS and the causes of its transmission.
Senior doctors acknowledged efforts of the college students for conducting research on a key disease and particularly praised the females for their courage and ignoring social taboos by openly discussing HIV/AIDS and its causes of transmission in human beings.
According to speakers, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) attacks immune system of human body that works as a defence system against infections including bacteria and viruses. And once the immune system is attacked, they said, the immune system becomes deficient and stops functioning effectively. Unlike other viruses, HIV never goes away and once a person is infected with HIV, he is known as HIV positive.
“An HIV positive person will have to live with the condition forever,” one of the speakers said.According to the health experts, HIV controls most of the immune system cells responsible for protecting the human body.
They said that usually there were no symptoms but some of the people may experience fever, headache, swollen lymph, fatigue, sore throat, etc.They said that people having some of the known symptoms should visit the doctor and do HIV test to determine whether they have been infected with HIV, a virus that causes AIDS.
According to speakers, around 2,500 patients were registered after testing positive for HIV in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Also, they said Bannu district alone reported 140 cases and was on top of the list in the province.
They said that people infected by HIV in Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan usually showed reluctance to undergo medical tests as it was considered a stigma, especially if they were diagnosed as positive.
“The number of positive cases seem to be much higher but most of the people think it will bring them a shame in the family and society if they were diagnosed with positive for the disease,” one of the speakers said, adding that most of the people refused to get tested.
Prof Ijaz Hasan said AIDS is a fatal disease but the virus can been controlled through preventive measures.“Being a pathologist, I have handled 40 cases and majority of them had returned from the United Arab Emirates. In one particular case, the entire family was infected and the husband blamed wife and the wife held the spouse responsible for transmitting her virus. This is our dilemma that we blame each other for wrongdoing,” Prof Ijaz Hassan said.
He said the best way to avoid the disease is by following the teachings of Islam.The speakers said HIV/AIDS is transmitted through body fluids including semen, vaginal fluid, blood transfusion and breast feeding to the newborns.
The participants said one should be limited to one’s life partner.The experts also advised infected pregnant women to avoid breastfeeding their newborns to reduce chances of transmission of the virus to them.
The college principal later distributed shields and certificates among the students. Wajeeha Rahman, Zohair Mufti, Areeb Iqbal, Laiba Azhar, Durdana Ghaffar, Fuqiha Rabi, Javeria Naz and Ahmad Zohaib received the shields.