Shahzad Rasheed
Pakistan has experienced a significant increase in HIV/AIDS cases, particularly among children. Between January 2025 and March 2026, more than 2,108 pediatric HIV cases were reported nationwide, including 1,274 boys and 834 girls. During the same period, approximately 84,000 people living with HIV were registered across the country; however, health authorities’ estimate that thousands of additional cases remain undiagnosed or untraceable, increasing the risk of continued HIV transmission.
In Pakistan, HIV transmission is driven by several factors, including unsafe medical practices, the use of contaminated needles and syringes, inadequate infection prevention in some healthcare settings, and unsafe blood transfusions. While the epidemic was historically concentrated among key populations at higher risk of exposure, transmission has increasingly occurred in the wider community through healthcare-associated outbreaks and sexual or injection-related networks. Several outbreaks have affected children, often linked to contaminated medical equipment or unsafe healthcare practices, highlighting the need for stronger infection control, safe blood screening, harm reduction services, and expanded HIV testing and treatment.
The highest burden of pediatric HIV infection was recorded in Sindh Province, where 1,515 cases were identified, including 923 boys and 592 girls. Punjab Province reported the second-highest number of pediatric cases, with a major outbreak in Taunsa Sharif, where more than 331 children tested HIV-positive between late 2024 and early 2026, followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, while cases are also being reported from the Islamabad Capital Territory, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan.
These findings underscore the need to strengthen HIV surveillance, expand access to early diagnosis and treatment, improve infection prevention and control practices, and enhance public health interventions to prevent further transmission, particularly among vulnerable children.
The small rural town of Ratodero, located in Sindh Province, Pakistan, became the focus of national and international media attention in April 2019 following the confirmation of a major human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) outbreak. The outbreak primarily affected children, along with some women, most of whom were residents of Ratodero and the surrounding villages and towns. It was one of the largest pediatric HIV outbreaks reported in Pakistan and raised serious concerns about unsafe healthcare practices, including the reuse of contaminated syringes, inadequate infection prevention and control measures, and unsafe blood transfusion practices.
A BBC Eye investigation revealed that at least 331 children contracted HIV between November 2024 and October 2025 in Taunsa, Punjab province, due to dangerous infection control lapses and the reuse of contaminated syringes at a local government facility, the Tehsil Headquarters (THQ) Hospital.
According to the statistics of the Federal Ministry of Health, children make up approximately 12.7% of the 62,000 HIV patients currently receiving treatment in Pakistan. The data shows that Sindh has become the largest center of HIV cases among children, with around 4,200 HIV-positive children registered in the province. The federal government has sought nutritional assistance from UNICEF, the World Food Programme (WFP), the World Health Organization (WHO), and Nutrition International to support the dietary needs of affected children.
Informal clinics, local laboratories, and under-resourced facilities frequently recycle disposable syringes or use single syringes across multiple patients, Health workers sometimes puncture shared medicine or IV fluid vials repeatedly with used or contaminated needles, introducing the virus into shared medication. Transmission from an HIV-positive mother to her child during pregnancy, labor, or breastfeeding occurs when the mother’s status is undiagnosed or untreated due to social stigma and limited access to antenatal care.
As international funding to Pakistan’s health sector continues to decline and major foreign donors are set to completely suspend grants by 2030, the country faces serious health risks unless urgent steps are taken by the government. Pakistan is among only 21 countries where new HIV infections are continuing to rise, according to the latest UNAIDS report, which warns that global funding cuts and weakened prevention programmes could further accelerate the country’s expanding HIV epidemic.
The UNAIDS Special Report, released in July 2026 ahead of the 26th International AIDS Conference in Brazil, states that Pakistan recorded an increase of more than 20 percent in new HIV infections between 2010 and 2025. This places the country among a small group of nations where the epidemic is worsening despite substantial global progress in reducing new infections. The report does not specify Pakistan’s exact increase but lists it alongside Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Brazil, Egypt and the Philippines.
Stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS in children in Pakistan requires urgent action against unsafe medical practices and improving maternal healthcare. Key solutions include stopping the reuse of syringes, mandating strict blood screening, expanding mother-to-child transmission prevention programs, and treating infected children early with dispersible antiretroviral medications.
The government of Pakistan should declare national emergency to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS within the country. Likewise, the people should insist on brand-new, single-use disposable syringes for every injection or drip, and watch healthcare workers unwrap them, shut down unregistered, fake, or informal roadside clinics run by untrained people who reuse needles and medical waste. Enforce strict hygiene and infection control laws across all public and private hospitals, labs, and children’s wards. Make HIV, hepatitis, and disease screening mandatory and strict for all blood donors and ensure children with chronic blood disorders like thalassemia receive only certified, fully screened blood
