BALKH - Provincial officials in Balk and Ghazni have reported cases of HIV in the respective provinces, according to local media.

In one of its reports yesterday, RTA Balkh said quoting Dr. Mirwais Rabbi, the Director of the provincial Public Health Department, that 28 cases of HIV positive – including six women and one child – had been registered in in the northern Afghan province so far.

Speaking at a ceremony organized to mark the World AIDS day in Mazar-i-Sharif, the provincial capital, Dr. Rabbi called for public awareness and campaign against HI/AIDS, ways of prevention, and testing.

“34 million people live with HIV across the world, 1,367 reported cases being in Afghanistan, and 28 in Balkh,” said Dr. Rabbi.

On the occasion, the officials announced a “medical tourism” exchange programme between Balkh and Iran’s Khurasan province for medical personnel, through which Afghan and Iranian specialists would be given the opportunity to travel to each other’s province to exchange knowledge and experience.

Meanwhile, according to the local Jamhoor web (Paktya), speaking at a similar programme in southeastern Ghazni province, Zia Gul Asfandi, the Director of the provincial Public Health Department, said their health teams had recently registered five AIDS patients.

Ms. Asfandi added that three of the five HIV positive had died and the remaining two were under medical observation.

She said joint efforts of the religious scholars and civil society organizations would be important in tackling the spread of the HIV, while calling on them to cooperate with public health workers in AIDS prevention.