Key result
Among 13 men living with HIV in Islamabad, qualitative interviews revealed minimal awareness of HIV-CVD links, with stigma, inadequate counseling, and poor screening access acting as key barriers.
Cardiovascular prevention is largely overlooked in HIV care in Islamabad, highlighting a need for integrated CVD education and screening in low-resource settings.
Background Men living with HIV face heightened cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk due to traditional risk factors and prolonged antiretroviral use. In Pakistan, little is known about how this population perceives and prevents CVD.Objective This study explored how men living with HIV in Islamabad understand cardiovascular risk and barriers to prevention.Methods Thirteen semi-structured interviews were conducted and thematically analyzed using NVivo. The Health Belief Model served as a sensitizing framework to guide interpretation.Result Five themes emerged: psychosocial impact and stigma following HIV diagnosis, medication adherence and challenges, limited awareness of cardiovascular disease, fragmented healthcare, and community empowerment. participants showed minimal awareness of HIV-CVD links, and preventive care was rare. Stigma, inadequate counseling, and poor screening access were key barriers.Conclusions Cardiovascular prevention is largely overlooked in HIV care in Islamabad. Integrating CVD education, regular screening, and provider training into HIV care could improve outcomes for people living with HIV in low-resource settings
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Asghar et al. (2025) studied HIV (n=13). HIV infection was evaluated on Understanding of cardiovascular risk and barriers to prevention. Among 13 men living with HIV in Islamabad, qualitative interviews revealed minimal awareness of HIV-CVD links, with stigma, inadequate counseling, and poor screening access acting as key barriers.
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