Pakistani AIDS campaign reaches out through Islam

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan has recruited Muslim clerics in a new campaign to raise awareness of AIDS in order to reach out to tens of thousands of people suffering either in silence or ignorance because of taboos in its conservative Islamic society.

Although there are only 3,297 reported cases of HIV/AIDS in Pakistan, the officials in the national AIDS control program reckon the real number of cases would be over 80,000.

"The reported ones are just the tip of the iceberg," Qamar-ul-Islam Siddiqi, a program coordinator, told Reuters.

"We have enlisted the help of religious leaders and clerics and printed specific material of Koranic teachings in order to reach the majority of Pakistan's 160 million people," Islam said.

A reference book and posters with Koranic verses stress the need for compassion and care in dealing with people suffering from the disease, and observe Islamic teachings against sex outside marriage.

Other Islamic countries like Indonesia and Egypt have translated the Pakistani material for use in their own national programs.

A senior leader of the country's main religious opposition party, Jamaat-e-Islami, Dr Iqbal Khalil has used the reference book to prepare sermons for Friday prayers.

"We are encouraging even strict clerics in northwestern areas to deliver this model sermon to create more awareness among the people," Khalil said.

There is a very low incidence of reported cases from Pakistan's northwest, but the number of unreported cases is believed to be far higher as many Pakistani migrant workers in the Middle East hail from either this region or the villages of central Punjab province.

"Many of them are deported (from the Middle East) after tested HIV positive. It is very important to make them aware of the risk they pose to their families and to change their lifestyle," Dr Adnan Khan, a consultant with the program said.

The Pakistan government launched its program in 1995 but Islam said it had been difficult to create awareness due to the social and religious constraints and the stigma attached to AIDS.

Many Pakistanis only associate the disease with sex outside marriage which is strictly prohibited in Islam, and are ignorant of the other ways in which it can be transmitted, namely through contaminated blood or sharing needles for injections.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

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