EACH year, World AIDS Day arrives with new statistics but an old question: why is HIV/AIDS still a critical problem? Despite decades of interventions, glaring inequalities and complacency remain the primary reasons for the elevated numbers. UNAIDS says 40.8m people are living with HIV globally, 9.2m are not “accessing antiretroviral therapy treatment”, and 1.3m new infections surfaced in 2024 — the year when HIV-related causes claimed 630,000 lives. Pakistan is not safe. With the
Child Rights in Focus
The Rawalpindi Board of Education has announced that the deadline for the submission of the annual Matriculation exam forms has been further extended. In the circular distributed by the education board, the last date to submit the forms with a single fee has been shifted to December 10. Forms with a double fee can be submitted until December 23, and with a triple fee until January 6. The exams will commence from March 3,
After 15 hours of search, the body of three-year-old Ibrahim, who fell into a manhole near Nipa Chowrangi, was recovered by Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) rescue teams near Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology on Monday. The boy’s body had travelled nearly half a kilometre downstream.The manhole was located directly in front of Karachi’s Chase Up Center — a two-by-two-foot uncovered gutter with no protective cover or barrier for pedestrians. Ibrahim, son of
PESHAWAR: As part of reforms, the elementary and secondary education department is working on a proposal to delegate academic, financial and administrative powers to public educational institutions in the province through a cluster formation of higher secondary schools with its feeder high, middle and primary schools, reveals secretary Mohammad Khalid. “The proposed school clusters will be strategically led by their respective board of governors and operationally through the cluster leads who will be heads
MANSEHRA: Speaker of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Babar Saleem Swati on November 29 said that the provincial government was committed to providing every child with formal education as one of its top priorities. “I am pleased to attend this function. You must be patriotic Pakistanis, and whether you become jurists, soldiers or politicians, you must remain loyal to the oath you take and fulfil it in letter and spirit,” Mr Swati told the Parents’
This year on Universal Children’s Day, as Pakistan prepares for its 2025 review by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, I’m forced to reflect on a 35-year-old promise. In 1990, Pakistan was one of the six initiators of the World Summit for Children, a champion for the new UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). We ratified it with a speed that signalled leadership and moral clarity. Thirty-five years
LAHORE: The Punjab government s Kite Flying Ordinance 2025, a far-reaching legal framework aimed at controlling kite flying and eliminating dangerous string, is poised for promulgation next week once the Punjab Assembly session concludes. The ordinance, already approved by the provincial cabinet, cannot be signed by the governor while the assembly remains in session. It will be issued through an official Gazette notification immediately after prorogation and will repeal the Punjab Prohibition of Kite
Rawalpindi: Serious respiratory tract infections including influenza, pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), a life-threatening lung injury, have started hitting the population in this region of the country after the setting in of winter as the healthcare facilities both in public and private sectors are receiving patients with the problems. Both pneumonia, infection in the lung, and ARDS are more fatal forms of respiratory tract infections, which claim a good number of lives
MULTAN: Poor sanitation and lack of cleanliness are contributing to the rapid spread of viral, bacterial and parasitic infections in Multan, health practitioners warned. The unhygienic environment is resulting in fever, fatigue, cough, aches, and other illness-related symptoms. Experts explained that viruses – microscopic agents that invade a host’s cells and force them to replicate – spread through various means, including respiratory droplets, contaminated surfaces, and bodily fluids. The people have urged Punjab Chief
DI KHAN: Unidentified assailants targeted another government school in Tank district on November 28, blowing it up with an explosive device in the jurisdiction of Ghulam Imam Police Station. The Government High School in Akbari village was destroyed after unidentified terrorists planted explosives on the premises, causing significant structural damage. This is the second such incident reported within hours. Earlier in the morning, a girls’ primary school in Kari Umar Khan was also blown
Islamabad:As ensuring safe, disaster-resilient schools is vital for education and development, the UN-Habitat’s Disaster Resilient School Infrastructure (DRSI) Project has strengthened 150 vulnerable schools, enhancing structural safety, classrooms and gender-responsive WASH facilities for more than 31,000 students, including around 13,600 girls. The UN-Habitat hosted a high-level event highlighting the progress of the DRSI Project, which targets schools in disaster-prone areas affected by earthquakes, floods and climate hazards. Many of these buildings were constructed before
ISLAMABAD: New national evidence shows that 20 districts across Pakistan are trapped in deep, overlapping deprivation where reproductive health services are scarce, fertility rates remain high, schools and health facilities are far from communities, housing conditions are poor and exposure to climate risks is among the highest in the country. These districts, most of them in Balochistan, continue to face severe structural disadvantages that shape every aspect of life for women and children. The