Challenges that the AIDS scourge pose have not changed much over the years it's still all about creating awareness,fighting discrimination and providing interventions for prevention and treatment.
Gujarat stands third in the country in number of targeted intervention (TI) projects to tackle AIDS. This is surprising, considering that the state is categorised as a moderate HIV-prevalence state.
As per a UNAIDS estimate, India has the largest number of people living with HIV outside South Africa. However, heartening figures from NACO's 2007 sentinel survey indicate that number of people with HIV/AIDS in India has dropped to 2.31 million from 2.41 million as per the 2006 survey.
Gujarat has 76 TIs as compared to 96 in Andhra Pradesh and 82 in Tamil Nadu, as per 2006 National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) figures. This was revealed in a recent paper by faculty of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A).
"Targeted interventions, which aim to prevent spread among vulnerable and marginalised populations, involve IEC (information, education and communication) which helps reduce stigma and BCC (behavioural change and control) which helps in modifying risky behaviour," says the paper.
The paper titled Managerial Challenges in Addressing HIV/AIDS: Gujarat State AIDS Control Society (GSACS)' is written by professors KV Ramani, Dileep Mavalankar, Devanath Tirupati and Vijaya Sherry Chand.
Says Dr Rajesh Gopal, joint director of GSACS, "We are fighting two epidemics AIDS and the stigma attached to it. We have to come out of the institutional healthcare model and emphasis should be on communication. All four routes of transmission unsafe sex, infected needles and syringes, infected blood and parent-to-child transmission are preventable."
According to him, Gujarat is moving towards being a low-prevalence state with less than five per cent prevalence among high-risk groups and less than one per cent prevalence among general population.
Currently, there are six ART (antiretroviral therapy) centres in the state at Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Mehsana, Bhavnagar, and two in Surat. The seventh in Surendranagar just received a nod last week.
On Monday, World AIDS Day, three patients will get the second line of ART at Civil, Hospital, Ahmedabad, he reveals. The IIM-A paper stresses the need for behavioural surveillance of high-risk groups like commercial sex workers (CSWs) and their clients, men who have sex with men (MSMs), injecting drug users (IDUs), migrant workers, truck drivers and street children. Inadequate screening of blood and beating opportunistic infections, most commonly tuberculosis, are other problems.
Anjoo Sheth, director of suicide prevention centre Saath, says, "AIDS patients often contemplate suicide because of rejection from their families. When they are in the last stages, relatives are unwilling to care for them as they fear infection. There is urgent need for hospices in the state where those who are terminally ill can be given proper care."
VIGILANCE VITAL
Number of ICTCs (integrated counselling and testing centres):
Ahmedabad 16
Gujarat 211
Andhra Pradesh 752
Tamil Nadu 710
Maharashtra 606
Total in country 4,155
* 2007 Naco figures
Referance:Times of India, December 01 2008
Showing posts with label HIV vulnerability in Gujarat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HIV vulnerability in Gujarat. Show all posts
Gujarat Facts/Data-1
Gujarat with a population of 50.6 million lies on the west coast of India. The state shares international boundary with Pakistan at the north-western periphery and national boundary with Rajasthan in the northeast, Madhya Pradesh in the east, Maharashtra and Dadar and Nagar Haveli in the southeast and Arabian Sea in the west and southwest. Gujarat represents about 6% of the total area of the country with 25 districts and 226 talukas. Gujarat’s unique geographical and socio-economic characteristics have made the state highly vulnerable to the spread of HIV. Some of the factors that contribute to the vulnerability of Gujarat to HIV include:
• busy trucking routes
• high degree of industrialization resulting in influx of migrant labourers from various parts of the country
• high mobility of population between Gujarat and Mumbai in particular for trade and commerce
• renowned educational institutions attracting youth from various parts of the country and abroad
• longest coastline with many ports
• exposure to extensive commercialization
• traditional festivals like Navratri providing ample opportunities for youth to socialize.
The 2006 estimates suggest national adult HIV prevalence in India as approximately 0.36 percent, amounting to between 2 and 3.1 million people (NACO 2007). The HIV epidemic has begun to take devastating toll in the state. Though no separate estimates are made for states, from the data of HIV sentinel surveillance of ANC clinic attendees, a gross estimate suggests that in Gujarat, the number of people living with HIV may vary from 75,000 to 15,00,000 (GSACS, PIP 2007). About 3000 AIDS patients were treated in government hospitals in Gujarat and the commonest opportunistic infections were tuberculosis and oro-pharyngeal candidiasis. With every passing year, number of PLHIV is increasing and with the advent of ART, life expectancy has increased. State spends millions of Indian Rupees on STD/HIV prevention and awareness activities, treatment for STIs, condom promotion and distribution and assisting people living with HIV. Further, gender inequities, low literacy, and poverty have added to the prevalence of HIV. These circumstances have also made People Living with HIV susceptible to stigma and discrimination when they are identified as being HIV-positive. Empirical evidence suggests that many men and especially the women are often stereotyped as having contracted HIV through immoral sexual behaviour. HIV-related stigma and discrimination together have long been recognized as one of the main obstacles to the prevention, care, and treatment of HIV and AIDS. Yet little has been done on a large scale to combat them.
http://www.solutionexchange-un.net.in/aids/resource/res-01-0 61008-01.pdf
• busy trucking routes
• high degree of industrialization resulting in influx of migrant labourers from various parts of the country
• high mobility of population between Gujarat and Mumbai in particular for trade and commerce
• renowned educational institutions attracting youth from various parts of the country and abroad
• longest coastline with many ports
• exposure to extensive commercialization
• traditional festivals like Navratri providing ample opportunities for youth to socialize.
The 2006 estimates suggest national adult HIV prevalence in India as approximately 0.36 percent, amounting to between 2 and 3.1 million people (NACO 2007). The HIV epidemic has begun to take devastating toll in the state. Though no separate estimates are made for states, from the data of HIV sentinel surveillance of ANC clinic attendees, a gross estimate suggests that in Gujarat, the number of people living with HIV may vary from 75,000 to 15,00,000 (GSACS, PIP 2007). About 3000 AIDS patients were treated in government hospitals in Gujarat and the commonest opportunistic infections were tuberculosis and oro-pharyngeal candidiasis. With every passing year, number of PLHIV is increasing and with the advent of ART, life expectancy has increased. State spends millions of Indian Rupees on STD/HIV prevention and awareness activities, treatment for STIs, condom promotion and distribution and assisting people living with HIV. Further, gender inequities, low literacy, and poverty have added to the prevalence of HIV. These circumstances have also made People Living with HIV susceptible to stigma and discrimination when they are identified as being HIV-positive. Empirical evidence suggests that many men and especially the women are often stereotyped as having contracted HIV through immoral sexual behaviour. HIV-related stigma and discrimination together have long been recognized as one of the main obstacles to the prevention, care, and treatment of HIV and AIDS. Yet little has been done on a large scale to combat them.
http://www.solutionexchange-un.net.in/aids/resource/res-01-0 61008-01.pdf
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