With the help of awareness campaigns on AIDS and various preventive measures, the State government will work towards making the State free of HIV, said Deputy Chief Minister Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas.
On World AIDS Day on December 1, the Andhra Pradesh State AIDS Control Society conducted an awareness programme in the city. Mr. Srinivas, who is also the Minister for Health, Family Welfare and Medical Education, said that unlike in the past when AIDS had no treatment, people having the disease could seek treatment and live without fear.
Mr. Srinivas stated that the State government had given a pension of ₹2,250 each to around 34,000 people, above the age of 60, living with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. The government would take steps towards providing pension to the remaining people, living with AIDS, as well.
Minister for Endowments Velampalli Srinivasa Rao said a collective effort was needed to raise awareness and fight AIDS.
Krishna Collector A. Md. Imtiaz said that 23,000 people living with AIDS had been given medicines via Antiretroviral Centres in the district. Apart from rallies, art forms such as Burrakatha and Harikatha were being used to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS among all sections of people.
He released Information Education and Communication (IEC) pamphlets at the programme and also launched HIV viral load centres at five places in the State, online.
