M A I N   N E W S

Chandigarh fighting losing battle against AIDS
Geetanjali Gayatri
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 18
With the number of HIV+ cases doubling since last year, Chandigarh, it seems, is fighting a losing battle against AIDS. From 57.89 cases per 1,000, the number of HIV+ people in the city has shot up to 97.73 cases per 1,000. Out of the 9,506 persons screened at Voluntary Counselling and Testing Centres (VCTCs), 929 were found to be HIV+ in 2005.

Of these, 65.9 per cent cases come from the male population while 34.1 per cent are women, according to data available with the State AIDS Control Society (SACS), UT. Over 87 per cent HIV+ cases have fallen prey to the dreaded disease due to sexual transmission.

This despite the fact that the SACS has gone all out to create awareness through talks, lectures, visits to colonies, initiation of targeted intervention, prevention of parent to child transmission, family health awareness programmes since the first case in the city came to light in 1992.

However, the Health Secretary, Mr Krishan Mohan, says the rising number is nothing to worry about. “In fact, it shows our campaigns are producing desired results, hitting the bull’s eye. The fact that more cases are being reported at the VCTCs shows that our awareness is making people forthright. They are discarding their inhibitions and getting themselves tested,” he maintains.

The Project Director, SACS, Dr Sonia Trikha, adds,” Since neighbouring states have hardly anything in the name of facilities to test and tackle HIV+ persons, Chandigarh, is their obvious choice. The city has the best infrastructure in the region and caters the states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.”

Further, Dr Trikha explains that the cases reporting at VCTCs are no barometer for the actual cases. “A person in the high risk group gets himself tested repeatedly which means there is overlapping of data. The VCTC data can be no criterion to gauge the actual extent of the problem since this data is biased,” she maintained.

Having covered 20 slums and 14 villages under the various projects of information, education and communication, the UT AIDS Control Society believes their work is making a difference.

The UT Administrator and Punjab Governor, Lieut-Gen S.F. Rodrigues, clearly is not impressed. On World AIDS Day on December 1, this year, critical of the rising number of HIV+ cases and mincing no words, he said that the entire campaigning exercise in the city by the various government and non-government agencies needed a re-look. “I think we are doing exactly the wrong thing and targeting the wrong population,” he had stated.

In pursuance of the suggestions by the Administrator, the Health Secretary will shortly convene a meeting of the NGOs to redraft the action plan to make a greater impact. “We will meet the NGOs within the next fortnight to brief them about our expectations of them and what they should do,” Mr Mohan said.

Notwithstanding all these justifications, the fact remains that the HIV scare is for real and is fast gaining ground. The ABC of AIDS — abstinence, being faithful and using a condom — promoting voluntary blood donation, using disposable syringes and accepting blood only from licensed blood banks and checking mother to child transmission by testing pregnant women for HIV holds the key to prevention of AIDS. Getting this message across to the right people is the only cure to this growing AIDS menace.