MONGABAY.COM
Mongabay.com seeks to raise interest in and appreciation of wild lands and wildlife, while examining the impact of emerging trends in climate, technology, economics, and finance on conservation and development (more)
WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
|
|
Pakistan
Index
Smoking is primarily a health threat for men. Nearly
half of
all men smoked in the 1970s and 1980s, whereas only 5
percent of
women smoked. Twenty-five percent of all adults were
estimated to
be smokers in 1985, with a marked increase among women
(who still
generally smoke only at home). The national airline,
Pakistan
International Airlines (PIA), instituted a no-smoking
policy on
all its domestic flights in the late 1980s. In an unusual
departure from global trends, PIA reversed this policy in
mid1992 , claiming public pressure--despite no evident public
outcry
in newspapers or other media
(see Transportation
, ch. 3).
Men
also take neswar, a tobacco-based ground mixture
including
lime that is placed under the tongue. Both men and women
chew
pan, betel nut plus herbs and sometimes tobacco
wrapped in
betel leaf; the dark red juice damages teeth and gums.
Both
neswar and pan may engender mild dependency
and may
contribute to oral cancers or other serious problems.
Opium smuggling and cultivation, as well as heroin
production, became major problems after the Soviet
invasion of
Afghanistan in 1979. The war interrupted the opium
pipeline from
Afghanistan to the West, and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's
crackdown on drug smuggling made shipment through Iran
difficult.
Pakistan was an attractive route because corrupt officials
could
easily be bribed. Although the government cooperated with
international agencies, most notably the United States
Agency for
International Development, in their opium poppy
substitution
programs, Pakistan became a major center for heroin
production
and a transshipment point for the international drug
market.
Opium poppy cultivation, already established in remote
highland areas of the North-West Frontier Province by the
late
nineteenth century, increased after World War II and
expanded
again to become the basis of some local economies in the
mid1980s . Harvesting requires intensive labor, but profits
are great
and storage and marketing are easy. The annual yield from
an
entire village can be transported from an isolated area on
a few
donkeys. Opium poppy yields, estimated at 800 tons in
1979,
dropped to between forty and forty-five tons by 1985, but
dramatically rose to 130 tons in 1989 and then 180 tons in
1990.
Yields then declined slowly to 175 tons in 1992 and 140
tons in
1993. The area under opium poppy cultivation followed the
same
pattern, from 5,850 hectares in 1989 to 8,215 hectares in
1990.
It reached 9,147 hectares in 1992 but dropped to 6,280 the
following year. The caretaker government of Moeen Qureshi
(July
to mid-October 1993) was responsible for the reductions in
production and area under cultivation; the succeeding
government
of Benazir Bhutto has perpetuated his policies and
declared its
intent to augment them.
Use of heroin within Pakistan has expanded
significantly. The
Pakistan Narcotics Control Board estimates that although
there
were no known heroin addicts in Pakistan in 1980, the
figure had
reached 1.2 million by 1989; there were more than 2
million drug
addicts of all types in the country in 1991. This dramatic
increase is attributed the ready availability of drugs.
There
were only thirty drug treatment centers in Pakistan in
1991, with
a reported cure rate of about 20 percent.
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) has not yet
been
much of a problem in Pakistan, probably as a result of
cultural
mores constricting premarital, extramarital, and openly
homosexual relations. The effect of poor quality control
on blood
supplies and needle sharing among addicts is undetermined.
The
government has been slow to respond to the threat posed by
AIDS.
Cultural and religious restrictions prevent official
policies
encouraging "safe-sex" or other programs that would
prevent the
spread of the disease. State-run radio and television
stations
have made no attempt to educate the public about AIDS. In
fact,
the government has minimized the problem of AIDS in the
same way
that it has dealt with potentially widespread alcoholism
by
labeling it as a "foreigners' disease."
The Ministry of Health, however, has established the
National
AIDS Control Programme to monitor the disease and to try
to
prevent its spread. During 1993 twenty-five AIDS screening
centers were established at various hospitals, including
the Agha
Khan University Hospital in Karachi, the National
Institute of
Health in Islamabad, and the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical
Center.
AIDS screening kits and materials are provided free at
these
facilities. By early 1994, approximately 300,000 people in
Pakistan had been tested.
A center for AIDS testing has also been established at
the
Port Health Office in Keamari harbor in Karachi. Another
is
expected to open during 1994 at Karachi Airport. Beginning
in
1994, all foreigners and sailors arriving in Pakistan will
be
required to have certificates stating that they are
AIDS-free.
Certificates of inspection are already required of
Pakistani
sailors. All imported blood, blood products, and vaccines
must
also be certified.
Data as of April 1994
|
|