HYDERABAD: Home to nearly 5 lakh HIV positive individuals, Andhra Pradesh has been consistently at the top for high prevalence of the disease across the country. To counter the surge of the disease, Andhra Pradesh State AIDS Control Society (APSACS) listed out its initiatives for the coming year on the run up to World AIDS Day on December 1.In order to prevent mother to child transmission of HIV, the APSACS has launched a program on November 1 this year, Mamatha - which encourages expectant mothers to undergo the test and opt for medication if they are found to be HIV positive. “Nearly 90 per cent of the infections transmitted from mother to child can be prevented by medication at the time of delivery,” said C. Partha Sarthi, project director of APSACS.After concentrating on spreading awareness through behavioral changes in the first decade of its programme, APSACS will be focusing on reaching out to people with prevention services against HIV/AIDS. “Due to prevention services and programs, the prevalence rate of HIV has reduced to 0.77 per cent in 2010 from 1.64 per cent in 2004, according to a sentinel survey,” said the project director. Elaborating on the state initiatives to control the spread of the disease, the project director pointed out that 1680 Integrated Counseling Testing Centres (ICTCs) have been set up in the state to counsel people for HIV infection and to carry out HIV tests. There are presently 45 Anti-Retroviral Therapy centres and 66 Community Care Centres for providing medical aid to those sufferingAIDS. The need to prevent new infections by providing safe blood has been looked at through the ‘Raktha Bandhu’ programme which was launched this year. By collecting blood only from voluntary donors, it omits the risk of infections posed by collection from professional donors. The theme for World AIDS Day this yera is ‘Zero new HIV infections and zero stigma and discrimination’, a message which allows for greater acceptance of those inflicted by the disease.
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