A project to help people at high risk of HIV to get tested for the presence of the virus would be launched on World AIDS Day on Sunday by Telangana State AIDS Control Society (TSACS) in collaboration with an NGO, AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
Titled ‘Moonlight’, the project will allow medical access to the high risk group, including female sex workers (FSW) and men having sex with men (MSM), who cannot go to government hospitals after 5 p.m. Mobile vans equipped with diagnostic devices will tour hotspots of flesh trade to conduct the tests and also to offer pre and post-testing counselling.
In other cities soon
“The test results will be available in 15 minutes. If a person tests positive for HIV, he or she will be referred to Integrated Counselling and Testing Centres for confirmation tests. The mobile vans will move from 5.30 p.m. to 10.30 p.m. Initially, it will be launched in Hyderabad. But funds would be mobilised to expand it to other cities in the State,” an official of TSACS said.
Officials said that TSACS will continue to focus on HIV prevention and risk reduction activities by involving these communities. The theme for the World AIDS Day-2019 is ‘Ending the HIV/AIDS Epidemic: Community by Community’.
In Hyderabad, the number of people with HIV taking medicines in TSACS centres is 22,472.
