The Assam government has taken a new strategy to identify HIV-positive people among the vulnerable population. Assam conducted a marathon integrated health camps at the block level to help the HIV-infected people, who were yet to know their situation.
The first HIV screening camp was successfully conducted last year in Central Assam’s Nagaon district. The health authorities are going to organize the second camp on Tuesday in the Upper Assam Tinsukia district, followed by a third camp in the Cachar district in Assam.
In Tinsukia, the idea of the HIV screening camp is a 100-day camp. The objective of the camp is to immediately identify HIV and related infections in chosen locations with identification of hepatitis B, hepatitis C, Syphilis, and Tuberculosis cases.
The officials of the Assam State AIDS Control Society (ASCS) conducted this integrated camp in Upper Assam’s Tinsukia district on Tuesday to identify the HIV-infected people and the related infections. The officials of the ASCS said that of the estimated 30,067 HIV-positive people, only about 64 percent of people in Assam know their HIV-positive status. The National AIDS Control Organisation set a target to identify 95 percent of HIV-infected people so that infections can be lowered to the best attainable extent.
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in December 2020, set an ambitious target calling for 95 percent of all people who are living with HIV infection to know their HIV status.
An official said that citing the latest official records with ASCS (Assam State AIDS Control Society ), the target is to achieve the goal of where 95 percent of the people infected with HIV know their HIV-positive status and get the treatment accordingly. Currently, 15,621 HIV-positive patients are taking the treatment in ART (Antiretroviral therapy). Going by the assessments, many more cases need to be detected so that they can be taken to the ART centers at the foremost.
(Input from various sources)
(Rehash/Lavanya Beeraboina/MSM)
