HIV/AIDS still remains one of the world’s most crucial public health challenges, despite medical advancements, particularly in low and middle income groups. With increasing number of diagnoses every year in the country, there is some cheer for the HIV positive patients in the State this year.
The Jharkhand State Aids Control Society (JSACS) on Monday announced a marginal though significant drop in the percentage of HIV positive prevalence rate on the eve of World Aids Day.
“We have noticed a small but significant reduction in the number of HIV patients for this year. Currently, the number of HIV positive patients stands quite tall at 18,012 but the prevalence rate of 0.25 for the year 2013-14 has reduced to 0.19 this year. Our motto is zero infection, zero discrimination and zero death. We have urged various city schools, NGOs and other social organisations and even common citizen to join hands on this cause by participating in the rally and the awareness speech for tomorrow to mark World Aids Day here,” said Dr BP Chaurasia, Additional Project Director, JSACS.
Currently, JSACS runs about 64 Integrated Counseling and Testing Centres (ICTC), 150 Facility Integrated Counselling and Testing Centres (FICTC), 28 Sexually Transmitted Infection centres (STI) and eight Antiretroviral Therapy centres (ART), including one at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS).
While explaining the various transmission ways that causes HIV positive and how one can take precautionary measures to prevent contracting the disease, Dr Devashish Chakraborty, Mainstream Division, JSACS, said how the disease is no longer just restricted to low and middle income group of people.
“Gone are the days when AIDS only touched the poor class. Now, if you see the statistics, there is a certain increase in the number of cases coming in from all age and income groups. Mainly the youth in the city is believed to be quite sexually-active but due to lack of sex education and culture gap people do not prefer using condoms. It is absolutely difficult to make people believe in using precautions and even the most-educated people are getting caught up in the grip of this disease. We provide counseling to the patients as well as their families. But, just to bring in a patient in for a checkup or start treatment is quite a task because people fear to confide and lose hope too. We have orphans who are affected by AIDS and they are still fighting the disease and living a normal life with proper medication and counseling. People should stop all sorts of discrimination against such patients and help them to live a normal life,” said Dr Chakraborty.
“The patients need to be motivated to come forward and get themselves checked and treated and not hide away in a shell and die. If the detection is not made early, chances are very high of increased transmission. There is a Social Protection Scheme for HIV positive patients coming up very soon and we are headed to the meeting in Trivandrum on December 8 &9 for the same. There are certain provisions made in the Food security Programme to give preference to people diagnosed with HIV. There is Indira Awas Yojana that provides benefits like housing for HIV positive patients. Indian railways also provide them 50 % concession on fares to travel to the ART centres, once a month. There are talks going on for a regular 50% concession on all fares for them, too,” said Chaurasia.
Meanwhile, the JSACS is striving hard to control the number of patients and the deaths in the state, request people to come forward to create and spread awareness about the disease in the city tomorrow by attending the rally that would start from Shahid Chowk, Main Road and end at Ranchi University Grounds in Morhabadi followed by awareness speech. “We have to ensure there is maximum awareness regarding the disease and people should come out in support of the same without any inhibitions. AIDS is not dengue, malaria or tuberculosis that is contagious and it is high time people accept that,” added Chaurasia.
World AIDS Day on December 1 is used to unite people in the fight against HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus first identified in 1984, to show their support for people living with HIV and commemorate those who have died.