‘Punjab govt running AIDS project with its own resources’

LAHORE
The Punjab government is successfully running the HIV/AIDS Control Programme with its own resources and the government will further provide maximum resources for the expansion of the programme and devising a new strategy for better results.
Secretary Health Department Punjab Jawad Rafique Malik said this while addressing a consultative seminar arranged by the Punjab AIDS Control Programme in collaboration with the UNAIDS and WHO to obvserv the World AIDS Day at a local hotel on Thursday.
UNAIDS Country Director for Afghanistan and Pakistan Dr Mamadou L. Sakho, Regional HIV Adviser UNODC Anne Bargestrom, UNICEF AIDS Specialist Dr Nasir Sarfraz, Dr Naila Shahid, Punjab AIDS Control Programme Manager Dr Salman Shahid, Dr Zaman Khan, Dr Tayyeba Rashid, Strategic Adviser UNAIDS Dr Rajwal Khan and a large number of medical experts, representatives of international partners and NGOs attended the seminar.
Jawad Rafique Malik observed that the consultative seminars would be fruitful in evolving a new strategy for HIV/AIDS control and treatment of infected persons. Dr Mamadou Sakho said the Punjab AIDS Control Programme was moving in the right direction and stressed the need for awareness seminars at the grassroots level and enhancing the HIV lab test facilities for the affected persons, so that people could have easy access to the information regarding the HIV AIDS Control and follow precautionary measures.