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Maha launches multi-pronged drive to curb HIV
A staggering population of about one lakh HIV-AIDS positives are availing of the ART in overnment medical facilities of Maharashtra.
Pune: A staggering population of about
one lakh HIV-AIDS positives are availing of the anti-retro
viral therapy (ART) in Government medical facilities of
Maharashtra, which is the number two state in prevalence of
the dreaded disease in the country.
Maharashtra, which comes next to Andhra Pradesh in HIV -AIDS prevalence - accounting for 18 per cent of the afflicted population in India - has launched a multi-pronged drive to curb the menace, initiating various steps under National Aids Control programme, said Dilip Deshmukh, Additional Project Director, Maharashtra State Aids Control Society (MSACS). "The high prevalence districts in Maharashtra besides Mumbai, include Sangli, Latur, Pune, Satara and Kolhapur. Efforts are on to curb transmission of the infection from high risk groups (HRGs), which consist of sex workers, truckers migrant labourers and drug users, to common population." he said. Deshmukh said the HIV positives were now coming out of closet to register themselves with Government and NGO agencies to avail of the ART, being provided free of cost at various Government and civil hospitals throughout the state.
The widespread network of the affected people was proving to be effective in fighting the stigma attached to their status in society, he said.
"Another challenge the health officials are facing is that of ending discrimination in rural schools against children with HIV positive status. The health directorate has launched a drive to sensitise healthcare providers, workers, NGOs operating at village level. Parents and teachers are being involved in this exercise."
A startling fact that has come to the fore through the surveys conducted in rural areas is that when it came to "acceptance" of HIV positive children in the school, the students had little reservations in interacting with the unfortunate victims once the mode of transmission is explained to them. They are told that casual contact does not involve any risk of spreading the infection, said Deshmukh.
"While normal schoolchildren had no difficulty in accepting the HIV positive status of their unfortunate counterparts, it was the parents and teachers who insisted on the discriminatory practices against HIV positive children in rural areas."
The Government, in coordination with NGOs, was doing its best to protect the right to education of HIV-affected children in the state, he stressed.
Data gathered by MSACS showed that there was a greater need to change the mindset of parents who feared that their wards would contract the infection.
"Unreported incidents of discrimination could be more that the ones noted by health workers in rural regions of Pune, Sangli and Satara," he felt.
Of an estimated 24 lakh HIV positive people in the country, about 4.20 lakh reside in Maharashtra, where about 50 per cent of them have registered for ART at Government medical facilities.
PTI
Maharashtra, which comes next to Andhra Pradesh in HIV -AIDS prevalence - accounting for 18 per cent of the afflicted population in India - has launched a multi-pronged drive to curb the menace, initiating various steps under National Aids Control programme, said Dilip Deshmukh, Additional Project Director, Maharashtra State Aids Control Society (MSACS). "The high prevalence districts in Maharashtra besides Mumbai, include Sangli, Latur, Pune, Satara and Kolhapur. Efforts are on to curb transmission of the infection from high risk groups (HRGs), which consist of sex workers, truckers migrant labourers and drug users, to common population." he said. Deshmukh said the HIV positives were now coming out of closet to register themselves with Government and NGO agencies to avail of the ART, being provided free of cost at various Government and civil hospitals throughout the state.
The widespread network of the affected people was proving to be effective in fighting the stigma attached to their status in society, he said.
"Another challenge the health officials are facing is that of ending discrimination in rural schools against children with HIV positive status. The health directorate has launched a drive to sensitise healthcare providers, workers, NGOs operating at village level. Parents and teachers are being involved in this exercise."
A startling fact that has come to the fore through the surveys conducted in rural areas is that when it came to "acceptance" of HIV positive children in the school, the students had little reservations in interacting with the unfortunate victims once the mode of transmission is explained to them. They are told that casual contact does not involve any risk of spreading the infection, said Deshmukh.
"While normal schoolchildren had no difficulty in accepting the HIV positive status of their unfortunate counterparts, it was the parents and teachers who insisted on the discriminatory practices against HIV positive children in rural areas."
The Government, in coordination with NGOs, was doing its best to protect the right to education of HIV-affected children in the state, he stressed.
Data gathered by MSACS showed that there was a greater need to change the mindset of parents who feared that their wards would contract the infection.
"Unreported incidents of discrimination could be more that the ones noted by health workers in rural regions of Pune, Sangli and Satara," he felt.
Of an estimated 24 lakh HIV positive people in the country, about 4.20 lakh reside in Maharashtra, where about 50 per cent of them have registered for ART at Government medical facilities.
PTI