Confronting the HIV challenge in Pakistan: Urgent need for health services in most-at-risk communities

A policy brief from the Programme for Research and Capacity Building in Sexual and Reproductive Health and HIV in Developing Countries.

This brief accompanies a special issue of Sexually Transmitted Infections and argues that a more cohesive approach to national STI control is needed in Pakistan through the following interventions:

• behaviour-change communication campaigns focused on preventing HIV and STIs among sex workers, their clients, and injecting drug users;
• increased access to STI prevention and care programmes specifically for sex workers and injecting drug users;
• STI prevention and care integrated into existing comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services and facilities;
• expanded access to harm reduction services for injecting drug users; 
•  training for health care providers, to reduce discriminatory practices in health care provision.

These are not special measures – they represent the fulfilment of people’s rights to basic health services and care, and they are crucial steps to take now while the HIV epidemic is at an early stage.