The Documentary Podcast, Pakistan: Hospitals putting children at risk of HIV

The Documentary Podcast

Pakistan: Hospitals putting children at risk of HIV

12 April 2026

27 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 has been going on? 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 reused for different children. Cross-contamination seems inevitable. But the local authorities deny the hospital is at the centre of the problem.

This episode of The Documentary comes to you from Assignment, investigations and journeys into the heart of global events.