HIV / AIDS

Objectives: To determine the experience of physicians posted in twotertiary care hospitals of Peshawar regarding HIV/AIDS. Design: Descriptive observational study. Settings: KhyberTeaching Hospital (KHT) and Postgraduate Medical Institute Hayatabad Medical Complex Peshawar (PGMI, HMC).Duration: From 12 September to 21st th December 2005. Material and Methods: A total of 50 clinical experts wereselected, 35 from KHT and 15 from HMC. Medical specialists, Pathologists, gynecologists and dermatologists wereincluded. A questionnaire was designed in accordance with the objectives of the study. Questionnaire containedinformation’s about, 1) The experience of physicians posted in these centers regarding HIV/AIDS management andon. 2) Clinico-pathological aspects, risk behaviors, preventive and precautionary measures, diagnosis and treatmentof the HIV/AIDS. Results: A total of 50 health staff including physicians, pathologists, gynecologists and dermatologistswere selected. Only 2% of physicians were claiming themselves volunteers for management of HIV cases. Main referralcenter for treatment and diagnosis was National Institute of Health (NIH) for 72% of physicians. Of total, 74% ofphysicians had recorded only 0-5 cases during their carrier. No outreach counseling or advertising VCT recorded.Opportunistic infections recorded by physicians were: Tuberculosis (18%), Oral/esophageal candidiasis(14%), STIs(6%),Herpes simplex, CMV Infection & Pneumocystic cranii( 4% each) and septicemia (2%). Malignancies recorded were:Kaposi,s sarcoma (6%) and Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (2%). Conclusion: The knowledge and attitude of the medicalstaff was satisfactory but majority of the physician had recorded negligible HIV/AIDS cases. There is need for moreawareness through advertisement, workshops and seminars on HIV/AIDS.