News imageCrossing Continents, Crossing Continents, Pakistan: hospitals putting children at risk of HIV

Crossing Continents

Crossing Continents

Pakistan: hospitals putting children at risk of HIV

14 April 2026

29 minutes

Available for over a year

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 Crossing Continents 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 the hospital is at the centre of the problem.

Reporter: Ghazal Abbasi

Producer: John Murphy

Studio Mix: Neil Churchill

Production co-ordinator: Katie Morrison

BBC Eye editor: Dan Adamson

Crossing Continents editor: Penny Murphy