Chandigarh vows to fight the virus

The UT Health department organised a ‘Walk against AIDS’ covering the urban slums of Burail and Sector 45,in which around 1,100 persons participated. A huge colourful procession was formed by students from Red Ribbon Clubs,government and private doctors,Lion’s Club,nurses,NGO workers,people from ‘high-risk group’ and those living with HIV/AIDS infection.

UT Home-cum-Health Secretary Ram Niwas said,in Chandigarh,while the adult HIV prevalence among general population was 0.25 per cent as against the national prevalence of 0.36 per cent,high-risk groups inevitably showed higher numbers.

“It is 0.4 per cent among female sex workers,7.4 per cent among ID users and 3.6 per cent among men having sex with men. Nearly 0.25 per cent of pregnant women are HIV positive,” said Niwas.

The city has about 4,360 AIDS cases registered with the anti-retroviral treatment (ART) centre,PGIMER,Chandigarh,of which 1,528 are on active treatment.

Of these,296 belong to the local population and 32 per cent are women and 7.4 per cent are children. Project Director,Chandigarh AIDS Control Society,Dr Vanita Gupta,said that it was encouraging to see that people from different walks of life were all mingling and freely exchanging views.

He said most of the AIDS cases taking treatment in ART centre,PGIMER,were from Haryana and Punjab,and a large number of this infection was among ID Users,therefore,AIDS control activities should be collaborated with prevention of drug addiction.

Meanwhile,the Red Ribbon Club of Chandigarh College of Education,in its ongoing campaign to spread awareness about AIDS,organised various competitions in the schools of Landran. The competitions took place in various schools,including Government High School,Kumbran,Sir Mcauliff High School,Phase-XI,Mohali,Government School for Girls,Sohana,Anees School,Sector 69,Mohali,Khalsa Senior Secondary School,Phase 8,Mohali,Government High School,Landran,Swami Ram Tiratha School,Mohali,Dashmesh Khalsa School,Phase 3B1,Mohali,and Khalsa School,Mohali,.

The theme of the competitions was ‘Know AIDS for no AIDS’ and the objective behind competitions was to promote awareness among the students. More than 1000 school students participated in various competitions.

“Increased level of awareness and behavioural change towards reduction of stigma associated with HIV/AIDS is required. Creation of networks to disseminate information,voluntary counselling and testing services can be an effective instrument in reversing the effects of this viral disease,said Sneh Lata,Director,Connoisseur Infotech,highlighting the need to mainstream the issues regarding HIV/AIDS through private sector’s participation.

She was speaking at a session organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) at the launch of first workplace intervention programme in Connoisseur Infotech Ltd to mark the observance of World AIDS Day.