Islamabad: A study conducted in three Pakistani cities - Rawalpindi, Quetta and Peshawar - has found that as many as 30 per cent of injection drug users are paid to donate blood.

This wrong practice increases the spread of killer diseases like HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis B and C. The study found that out of the total 608 drug users, nearly half of the participants, who were made the subjects of the research, shared needles with others. For sterilising the needles the methods often used were washing them with plain water, boiling water or other means, which the researchers said were not sufficient to disinfect them.

The results of the study, conducted by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, appear in the June 2003 issue of the Journal of Urban Health. The researchers who conducted the study said, "we found that injection drug users were twice as likely to donate blood as non- injectors, which is not surprising since some blood donor clinics in Pakistan pay for blood donations".

They further said that unless appropriate screening of blood is done, blood-borne infections could spread to the Pakistani population like wildfire, as has been the case in other countries. They found that heroin is easily available in Pakistan due to its close proximity to Afghanistan, one of the world's leading producers of opium. Liquid opiates are also readily available at pharmacies without a prescription.

The researchers suggested that in order to prevent the spread of blood-borne infections in Pakistan, interventions are needed to discourage a transition to injection drugs.

They further advised that needle exchange programmes should be wound up along with HIV testing and educational counselling for drug users, paid blood donation should be prohibited, and screening donations for blood-borne infections should be implemented to help safeguard the blood supply in Pakistan.

ANI