Social stigma surrounding HIV must go, says MP

Awareness campaign mark World AIDS Day

Students of Andhra Medical College displaying a huge red ribbon after a streetplay, in Visakhapatnam on Sunday.

Expressing concern over the social stigma surrounding the HIV and AIDS, Visakhapatnam MP M.V.V. Satyanarayana has said that there is a need for the communities to ensure that the patients are facing no discrimination.

Participating at a programme organised at the Mahatma Gandhi statue near the GVMC administrative building on the occasion of World AIDS Day on Sunday, the MP said an estimated 21 lakh people were suffering from AIDS and they were being supplied drugs through Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) centres.

“Drugs are also being supplied through King George Hospital (KGH) to prevent the transmission of the disease from mothers to the newborns. There has been a decrease in the incidence of AIDS cases in the district,” he said.

Mobile testing facility

Later, the MP inaugurated a mobile AIDS testing facility, purchased at ₹30 lakh with his MPLADS funds.

VMRDA Chairman Dronamraju Srinivasa Rao inaugurated a cabin for testing of patients in the bus. He called for more awareness on AIDS.

An awareness rally was taken out from the Mahatma Gandhi statue to the Lions Community Hall at Ram Nagar, covering Old Jail Road and Seven Hills Hospital.

District Medical and Health Officer S. Tirupathi Rao, Andhra Medical College principal P.V. Sudhakar, YSR Aarogyasri District Coordinator Dhavala Bhaskar Rao, DIO Jeevan Rani, SETVIS CEO Srinivasa Rao, DPM Sailaja, AMC SPM professor Devi Madhavi, representatives of NGOs, college students and NSS volunteers were among those who participated in the rally.

The rally concluded in a meeting at the Lions Community Hall. Mr. Tirupathi Rao said drugs were now available to prevent mother-to-child transmission of AIDS.

Mr. P.V. Sudhakar said that community involvement was important to control the disease and called upon patients to avail of government pension.

Additional DMHO (AIDS and Leprosy) M. Pavan Kumar said that patients suffering with AIDS and TB should undergo regular screening tests and take the drugs being supplied by the government through all PHCs.

Cases see a decline

The AIDS positive cases which stood at 0.2 % among pregnant women in 2014-15 fiscal decreased to 0.1 % by 2016-17 financial year in Visakhapatnam, according to District AIDS Prevention and Control Unit (DAPCU).

Similarly, the positive cases among general patients which stood at 2.5 % in 2014-15 fiscal dropped to 2.2 % in 2015-16 fiscal, further declined to 1.95 % in 2017-18, 1.3 % in 2018-19, suggests the DAPCU figures.

A rally was taken up by the NSS Volunteers of St. Joseph's College for Women, in collaboration with the NSS Cell of Andhra University.