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Friday, Dec 02, 2005

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Health delivery system to be revamped

Special Correspondent

Make AIDS control part of National Rural Health Mission, says Manmohan Singh

"If we begin to lose our youth to the disease, this will have serious consequences for our society and economy"

NEW DELHI: Expressing fear that India could lose its youth to HIV/AIDS, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said the health delivery system would be restructured in two years to provide a comprehensive package of services to the community and to the HIV-infected.

He was inaugurating the national youth convention for leaders of youth and student wings of political parties to mark the World AIDS Day.

Reiterating the Government's commitment to lead AIDS control efforts, Mr. Singh said the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) should be taken out of the narrow confines of the Health Department. It should become an integral part of all Government departments and brought into the mainstream of the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry as an integral part of the National Rural Health Mission.

The HIV/AIDS control programme was a management challenge that needed fresh ideas and a bold vision, he said.

"It should be implemented efficiently through the available public health network. If we do so, we could upscale our efforts to the desired levels within a minimum period of time, to effectively check the disease. This should be our priority because we have no time.''

`Change mindset'

Asking the youth to bring about a change in mindset on issues such as sex, the Prime Minister said this was important, given the traditional inhibitions about discussing such matters within our families, among our colleagues and in public places.

"This, quite obviously, has to change if we are to succeed in creating awareness of the hazards of unsafe sexual practices. Similarly, you must also spread awareness about public health and hygiene, including the use of razors, syringes and blood transfusions,'' he said.

"We must sensitise our pharmaceutical industry to expand basic research to produce low-cost drugs and vaccines and strengthen our delivery systems to provide treatment for this disease even while minimising drug resistance," he said.

Simultaneously, a massive capacity building, awareness and counselling campaign should be launched with the help of public health professionals.

Demographic transition

Pointing out that India was on the threshold of a major demographic transition with an age profile favouring the youth, Mr. Singh said that our comparative advantage was increasingly cheap and skilled labour force and a rising savings rate.

"But, if we begin to lose our youth to the disease, this will have serious consequences for our society and economy,'' he said. The Prime Minister suggested that elected representatives of `gram panchayats' and local bodies and `anganwadi' workers could be used to ensure widespread dissemination of information.

Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said the country's progress and development depended on how the issue of AIDS was tackled.

The convention will provide a unique opportunity to sensitise student and youth leaders to the magnitude of the epidemic and mobilise them to act as ambassadors to spread awareness and promote measures to prevent the incidence of HIV among young people. The Prime Minster released an information guide, `Quest: HIV/AIDS, a handbook for Young People.'

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