Towards Safe Injection Practices in Pakistan

Summary Injection overuse and unsafe injection practices in Pakistan require urgent attention because they are driving the hepatitis B and C epidemics in the general population. This paper presents an overview of injection safety in Pakistan, and discuss measures taken by the government to address these public health problems. Several studies have demonstrated that reuse of injection equipment is common, and that unsafe injections arc responsible for more than half of the hepatitis B and C infections in the country. An average of 13.6 therapeutic injections are received per person per year. based upon studies in Sindh province. There has been a greater recognition among government policy makers of the growing burden of hepatitis B and C over the past few years. The Prime Minister’s Program for Prevention & Control of Hepatitis established in 2005 has institutionalized injection safety within the Ministry of Health, but the control of the hepatitis B and C epidemics in Pakistan demands a far more aggressive and innovative response focused on preventing unnecessary and unsafe injections. Unsafe Injection Practices in Pakistan