‘HIV transmission rate has declined in last few yrs’

Kalyani Patil,District Programme Officer,Maharashtra State AIDS Control Programme (MSACS),said rate of HIV transmission has declined over the past few years. While it was 8.1 per cent in 2009-10 and 5.8 per cent in 2010-11,the rate dipped to 4.1 per cent in 2011-12. “We have now enrolled private hospitals in the programme and 31 such centres also conduct HIV detection tests,” said Patil.

With a focus on early HIV detection,officer said they have registered 8,169 female sex workers,5,728 men having sex with men,311 injecting drug users,one lakh truckers and 64,975 migrants under the programme. Patil said services like tests of sexually transmitted infections,free condoms and HIV detection tests are provided under the programme.

Meanwhile,to mark the World AIDS Day on December 1,several rallies,free medical tests and workshops will be conducted in the city. Bollywood stars Shahid Kapoor and Sonakshi Sinha will participate in a campaign offering free HIV test on November 30.

A rally will be taken out from Shaniwar Wada to B J Medical College ground on December 1,following which a workshop will be held to provide training on the new triple drug regimen to be administered to HIV positive mothers to prevent transmission of infection to their infants. Additional District Collector Ganesh Patil said free medical tests to detect HIV will be conducted at 10 places in the city on November 30.

The launch of the triple drug regimen for HIV positive mothers that was scheduled for December 1 will now take place on January 1 next year. Newsline had first reported in October this year that HIV infected pregnant women would be given a three drug regimen to cut the risk of transmission of the virus to newborns.

Instead of a single drug,the cocktail will now include lamivudine,efavirenz and tenofovir,said Dr Ramesh Bhosale,Head,Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology ,B J Medical College. The triple drug regimen has to be taken during pregnancy,delivery and breastfeeding regardless of CD4 count or clinical stages of the disease.