How children are paying the price in Pakistan’s mass HIV outbreak - Aljazeera.com

Since his son was diagnosed with HIV during a mass outbreak among babies and children in Pakistan, Shahzado Shar has often been forced to choose between food and medicine.

About 30 other children are also HIV positive in their small village of Subhani Shar, just a few kilometres from Rato Dero.

At least 50 children have died since they were diagnosed, said paediatric specialist Fatima Mir, from Aga Khan University in Karachi, who has analysed the data.

Authorities blamed a single physician – a popular child specialist in Rato Dero – for causing the outbreak.

“Things are as bad as they were at the time of the outbreak,” said whistle-blower Imran Akbar Arbani, who called malpractice in the country “ruthless”.

Arbani took his data on the outbreak to local media after discovering an alarming number of babies with HIV in Rato Dero, where he has a private clinic.

Paediatric specialist Mir said successful mass testing helped to identify victims of the crisis and slow down onward transmissions.

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