The World AIDS Day was observed at Khariar of Nuapada district on Tuesday by different civil society organisations like SAI, Khadial Sanskrutik Anusthan and NRHM etc.
The participants conducted a rally which started from the block office and marched in side Khariar town carrying placards with slogans to raise awareness within the people. A meeting was conducted after the rally.
Dr PC Achary, Medical Officer of Khariar PHC, Makumari lamba, CDPO and ABDO of Khariar block also participated in the rally. Nuapada district is one of the sensitive zones of Odisha where hundreds of positive cases of AIDS have been found, especially within poor migrant workers and sex workers of the district. Information provided by SAI, an organisation working on AIDS reveals that 432 persons have been found HIV positive in Nuapada district till now and 90 out of them have died of AIDS.
The number of persons found positive in the year 2015 is 47 out of which eight died. SAI has also informed that 245 affected persons are getting regular treatment from various AIDS treatment and counselling centres of the district.
Information provided by the Integrated Counselling and Testing Centre (ICTC) at Khariar reveals that the ICTC at Khariar has examined blood sample of 5,273 persons since 2005 till now out of which 43 persons have been found HIV positive and 12 died till now in Khariar block. Out of 2,293 persons whose blood samples were examined in Khariar in the year 2015, five were found positive and two of them died this year.
The organisers appealed to the district administration to give priority to the HIV affected people for inclusion in various Government schemes like pension and housing.
“Priority is not accorded to the affected people while selecting beneficiaries for all these schemes. Only two persons have been selected in Khariar block and one in Sinapali block under social security and housing schemes till now,” said SAI coordinator Jitu Pattnaik.