Accusing federal and provincial health authorities of “criminally hiding the actual HIV burden,” infectious diseases experts and leading medical bodies on Saturday warned that lack of transparency and weak prevention efforts are allowing the virus to spread rapidly across Pakistan, including among children and low risk populations.

Speaking at a joint news conference at the Karachi Press Club, representatives of the Pakistan Islamic Medical Association, Pakistan Paediatric Association and other physicians’ groups demanded that HIV data be made publicly available on a daily or weekly basis, similar to the reporting model adopted during Covid-19, to enable clinicians, researchers and policymakers to respond effectively.

They alleged that national and provincial AIDS control programmes have largely remained limited to diagnosing and treating patients, with little meaningful focus on prevention, which they said is the main reason the infection is “spreading like fire” in the country.

Infectious diseases expert Dr Samreen Sarfaraz of the Indus Hospital and Health Network said repeated requests by clinicians for access to HIV data had gone unanswered, leaving frontline doctors in the dark about the scale and transmission patterns of the disease.