Pakistan's recurring pediatrics HIV outbreaks: a systemic failure demanding urgent reform

In 2019, a doctor serving as a whistle-blower revealed a concerning HIV outbreak in the southern Sindh district of Ratodero, where hundreds of children were found to have contracted HIV after sharing needles at medical clinics. Within two years, the number of affected patients had exceeded 1,500, at least 50 children had died. The ban was swiftly, but briefly, regulatory; the whistle-blower himself reported that prohibited unlicensed practitioners had cleared within months again, and the president of the Infectious Diseases Society of Pakistan noted regulatory departments were there only on paper (Jazeera, 2021). History is now repeating itself. In the first quarter of 2026 (January, 294, February, 324, and March, 276), Sindh registered 894 new HIV cases, including 329 children younger than 14 years (Bhatti, 2026). The health experts caution that it is detecting three to four new cases of pediatrics daily (Dunya News, 2026). The same constellation of failures is attributed to these infections, as in 2019: reuse of intravenous drips, cannulas and syringes, unsterilized equipment, and transfusion of unscreened blood - which continues across both public and private facilities because of lax enforcement of regulations (Bhatti, 2026).