GUWAHATI, Nov 30 – The HIV/AIDS situation in Assam presents a mixed picture, with better monitoring and care in place, but awareness continuing to be low in most parts of the State. There remains little scope for complacency in such a context. Revealing this at a press conference held in the city on the eve of the World AIDS Day, the Assam State AIDS Control Society stated that efforts to combat the threat cannot be stymied as the State is adjacent to two highly vulnerable areas – Manipur and Nagaland.
Till November 1 this year, the HIV/AIDS scene is quite serious in Assam with 3,835 people already identified as HIV-positive, among which 991 have AIDS. The adult prevalence rate stands at 0.03 per cent and its category is “low prevalence but highly vulnerable state”.
Significantly, according to the AIDS Control Society, 152 of the total HIV/AIDS-afflicted are children.
It was mentioned that the HIV prevalence among the High Risk Group was showing a downward trend compared to previous years.
Addressing mediapersons VS Bhaskar, Commissioner Secretary Health, said that there were several factors behind the situation in Assam being worrisome, and one of those was its proximity to Manipur and Nagaland, both highly vulnerable to the disease.
“Assam being the gateway to the Northeast has a lot of migrants, truckers and floating population...thus increasing the chances of HIV/AIDS infection”, he stated. Injecting drug users, displaced people in relief camps were other factors behind incidence of HIV/AIDS in the region.
Referring to a presentation of the AIDS Control Society, he identified the age group between 30 to 39 as the most vulnerable.
On the incidence of HIV/AIDS he stated that better reporting and documentation was in place compared to previous years. Based on such evidence it was seen that Kamrup district reported the highest number of HIV cases followed by Cachar and Dibrugarh.
It was revealed that several High Risk Groups were identified by experts, and subsequently special attention was paid to attend to the needs of those groups. Among those were truckers and sex workers. Counselling and treatment clinics were functioning to take care of such groups in parts of the State.
Recognising the need to promote public awareness about HIV/AIDS, Rakhi Chakraborty of the AIDS Control Society stated that a range of formats are being used to spread knowledge and information about the disease. Among the successful interventions she identified mobile theatre, Self Help Groups, radio, print and the electronic media.
She underlined the need for more awareness about HIV/AIDS, saying that the media could play a positive role in the prevailing situation.
A novel concept to spread awareness was the functioning of Red Ribbon Clubs in colleges of the State. In 72 colleges such clubs were dispensing information relating to HIV/AIDS students, and more such clubs would be formed in the near future to cater to a larger target group.
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