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The Union Health and Family Minister, Dr Anbumani Ramadoss has said that the Ante-Retroviral Treatment (ART) centres which are at present in 8 hospitals will be extended to 25 hospitals and all States in the country whether high prevalent or vulnerable to AIDS will have such centres. The Minister was addressing Secretaries of Health from the States and the Project Directors of State AIDS Control Societies here today. The Minister said AIDS is not only a public health issue but also a socio-economic issue. The figures of AIDS prevalence, however, do not reflect the picture correctly. For instance, UP has the highest STD rate in the country but is classified as a low prevalence state as far as AIDS is concerned. It is for this reason, the Minister said, we are going for re-evaluations of NACO and the structure of the state level organizations. He said the external agency will also carry out a survey of the incidence of AIDS in the next 6 months. The Minister said that the Govt. is fully committed and both the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh and the Chairperson of the UPA, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi are of the view that firm and affirmative action needs to be taken to check the disease.
Dr. Ramadoss pointed out that 84 to 85% of the disease is due to sexual contact and a massive awareness campaign combined with condom promotion can arrest the spread of the disease. The key word in the Minister’s address was convergence and integration of finances and technical support for spreading awareness on AIDS. He said in a recent meeting chaired by the Union Human Resource Development Minister, Mr. Arjun Singh, the HRD Ministry had committed to include awareness on HIV/AIDS as part of the syllabi in various streams of schools. Similarly, the Information and Broadcasting Minister, Shri S. Jaipal Reddy had offered the support of Prasar Bharati and other media units to spread awareness on AIDS. Referring to stigmatization of AIDS patients, he said care and support need to be enhanced. On social discrimination, the Minister said that the Govt. is working on a bill against discrimination of AIDS patients at work and at schools.
Addressing the gathering, the Secretary, Family Welfare, Sh. P.K. Hota referred to a recent report in the press on the Rural Health Mission wherein some comments on reduced condom usage was made and clarified that the condom distribution has gone up from 500 million to 15,500 million. He said that there has been no reduction in usage of condoms but free distribution of condoms had been reduced from 500 million to 300 million in view of reports of large-scale misuse. He said that the need of the hour was to build capacity and better integration.
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