The prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS in Coimbatore district has come down to an all-time low of 0.30 % in 2017-18, said officials of District AIDS Prevention and Control Unit (DAPCU). As many as 1.73 lakh people were screened for HIV/AIDS during 2017-18 against 1.32 lakh in 2016-17 when the prevalence rate was 0.49 %.
Officials with DAPCU said that prevalence rate has come down despite the increase in the number of persons screened for HIV infection. The prevalence rate was 3.05 in 2006 in Coimbatore when a meagre number of 42,858 persons were screened.
The decrease in the prevalence rate was the result of a slew of measures initiated by K. Senthil Raj, Project Director of Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society (TNSACS), according to B. Sundaresan, District Programme Manager of DAPCU and Senior Medical Officer of the Antiretroviral therapy (ART) Centre at Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH).
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“We could take awareness on HIV/AIDS to more people through Red Ribbon Clubs, non-governmental organisations, self-help groups and anganwadi workers. Several special screening camps were conducted with the support of the Revenue Department, Tamil Nadu Adi Dravidar Housing and Development Corporation Limited and District Legal Services Authority,” said Dr. Sundaresan.
HIV screening camps were also conducted in remote areas, tribal hamlets and industries. The staff of 27 standalone Integrated Counselling and Testing Centres(ICTC) in the district area conducted outreach programmes once in a week.
R.V.M. Kumanan, District Supervisor of DAPCU, said that two NGOs namely Imayam and Native Medicare Charitable Trust are doing targeted intervention programmes of TANSACS among high risk groups such as men who have sex with men (MSM) and migrant workers.
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At present, Coimbatore has two ART centres based at CMCH and Government Hospital, Pollachi in addition to six link ART centres at government hospitals at Valparai, S.S. Kulam, Karamadai, Coimbatore Central Prison, Pooluvampatti and Somanur.
Also, centre for Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) is functioning at CMCH, government hospitals at Valparai, Mettupalayam and Pollachi.
The district has also got 88 facilitator ICTCs, staff of which conduct first level of HIV screening using test kits in remote areas and refer positive cases for a second screening in ICTCs where counselling will be offered before and after testing.
Screening for HIV/AIDS is also done when voluntary blood donations are done at the 23 private and four government blood banks in the district.