The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : District-level AIDS prevention and control units planned

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Sunday, May 04, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

District-level AIDS prevention and control units planned

Special Correspondent

Rs.5 crore allotted to set up a corpus fund for a Trust
The Trust will be managed by TANSACS

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society (TANSACS) plans to set up District AIDS Prevention and Control Units (DAPCUs), Chief Secretary, L.K. Tripathy, said here on Saturday.

Inaugurating a one-day regional conference of District Collectors on HIV/AIDS, Mr. Tripathy said the decision was to further strengthen prevention and controlling programmes to be implemented across the State.

He explained that the leadership of the Collectors was important since TANSACS had embarked on National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) Phase-III initiatives after achieving considerable success in creating greater awareness and providing care and support to the HIV affected.

Funds allotted

Appealing to the Collectors to scale up special focus programmes on prevention and control activities by enlisting the support of self-help groups and other non-governmental organisations, Mr. Tripathy said the government had allotted Rs.5 crore to set up a corpus fund for a Trust, which would be managed by TANSACS to help orphan children and widows affected by the disease.

He said the T.B. sanatorium at Tambaram had become a centre of excellence in the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS programmes. He urged the Collectors to utilise the HIV/AIDS control programme initiatives to improve water, sanitation, and health cover programmes through the primary health centres.

Mr. Tripathy released a booklet on District HIV/AIDS profile and a status report of TANSACS’ initiatives.

Damodar Bachani, Joint Director, National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), said Rs.80 crore would be made available to the TANSACS during 2008-09 for massive programmes in healthcare and support for the HIV/AIDS affected in Tamil Nadu.

V.K. Subburaj, State Health and Family Welfare Secretary, enumerated the steps taken by the government to arrest the spread of HIV/AIDS. Project Director and Member Secretary of TANSACS, Supriya Sahu, sought the help of the 15 Collectors who were participating in the conference to identify ‘hot spots’ in their districts, especially Salem, Madurai, Tiruchi, Krishnagiri, Theni and Namakkal.

TANSACS, she said, had decided to decentralise and strengthen the district-level response as per recent classification by NACO. TANSACS has 22 category ‘A’ districts, five ‘B’ and three ‘C’ to help intensify programmes depending on the vulnerability of the district.

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