CHENNAI: The Government will set up 20 anti-retroviral therapy centres and install eight CD-4 cell count machines soon, Health minister K.K.S.S.R. Ramachandran said on Friday.

At a programme organised by the Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society (TANSACS), the Minister announced that treatment availability would be expanded in public health centres. Two more blood bank units will be set up in Rameswaram and Cuddalore while new blood separation units will come up in Tuticorin, Chengalpet, Kanyakumari, Tiruchi and Salem.

The government would also provide basic nutritional support to people on ART and partner with positive networks on education about treatment methods and reducing stigma and discrimination against positive people.

Mr. Ramachandran honoured members of various networks for their efforts in spreading the message of AIDS.

A multimedia campaign on AIDS was launched by David T. Hopper, consul general, American Consulate in Chennai. The campaign, developed by TANSACS, tells people that `Test is best' to find out one's status. He said his country was making partnership the focus of its support in the form of funding to Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka.

Health secretary V.K. Subburaj said the day was dedicated to increasing awareness. Voluntary blood donation had increased by 73 per cent, while the use of condoms had risen from 20 to 70 per cent, he said. At least 82 per cent of high-risk people tested themselves for sexually transmitted diseases. The government spent about Rs.20 crore towards awareness programmes each year, he added.

TANSACS project director Supriya Sahu said more men than women came to testing centres, and appealed to women to come forward and declare their status to receive government benefits.

She called on the support of the transgendered, injected drug users and homosexuals to take forward the project.

Rama Pandian, director, Tamil Nadu Network of Positive People; Michael Friedman, joint director, Centre for Diseases Control; B. Padmavathi of Positive Women's Network; N.S. Murali, secretary of Voluntary Health Service, Adyar; P. Krishnamurthi, project director, AIDS Prevention and Control; Padma Chandrasekar, senior project director, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Sudha Gooty, project coordinator, United Nations Development Programme, and Devashish Datta, project director, United Nations Children's Fund, participated.

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