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Pakistan's hospitals accused of giving children HIV

How and why children in Pakistan are attending hospital and becoming HIV positive. Ghazal Abbasi investigates why some hospitals have become risk factors in the spread of disease.

Outbreaks of HIV have become regular occurrences in Pakistan. And too frequently it is the children who suffer. In the city of Taunsa, for example, children have tested positive for HIV while their parents have not. So what’s been going on? In Assignment Ghazal Abbasi investigates what and who is to blame. With the help of a staff insider and undercover recording in the city’s main hospital, the BBC finds shocking lapses in medical protocol. Medicine vials and syringes are often re-used for different children. Cross-contamination seems inevitable. But the local authorities deny there is a problem.

Reporter: Ghazal Abbasi
Producer: John Murphy
Studio Mix: Neil Churchill
Editor: Penny Murphy

(Image: 10 year old Asma Bibi at the grave of her younger brother. Credit: BBC)

Release date:

27 minutes

On radio

Tuesday01:32GMT

Broadcasts

  • Tuesday01:32GMT
  • Tuesday08:32GMT
  • Tuesday19:06GMT
  • Sun 19 Apr 202611:32GMT
  • Sun 19 Apr 202615:06GMT
  • Sun 19 Apr 202621:32GMT

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