Andhra Pradesh - Anantapur   

Study finds low awareness on AIDS

Anantapur: Awareness level on HIV/AIDS in the district is low and there is a need to improve infrastructure to provide care and support to the children (families) living with AIDS.

This was found in the District Situational Analysis study on the quality of life of children infected by HIV/AIDS and their families conducted by Balasahyoga project.

At a workshop conducted with the district-level stakeholders on the DSA report and action planning in RDT Ecology Centre here on Tuesday, V.J. Naidu of Family Health International (FHI) stated that the fragile economy of the district based on risk-prone agriculture was one of the factor contributing to the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Regular distress migration and illegal trafficking of girls and women was also compounding the problem.

Though the State AIDS Control Society had put the positive cases among the ante-natal counselling tests at one per cent in the district, against 1.5 pc in the State, it could be much higher in reality. He attributed the low detection of positive cases due to inadequate testing facilities and lack of awareness.As per the government statistics 6,728 children were tested from January 2000 to April 2007 and the positive cases among them was 4.52 per cent. The AIDS incidence rate of 1.3 pc in the district could also be attributed to inadequate testing facilities and low rate of institutional deliveries, he noted.

The study also found constrained access of the testing facilities, discrimination in the hospitals, low awareness, fear of stigma among people as well as doctors and poor retrieval treatment services as the perceived gaps in the control of spread of HIV/AIDS.

The study has recommended better nutritional care, sensitisation, sustained counselling and support, economic support, skill education and preference in anti-poverty programmes to the infected persons/families to contain the spread, Mr. Naidu said.

The Balasahyoga project is funded jointly by the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), the Elton John AIDS Foundation, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFATM) in partnership with National AIDS Control Organisation and AP State AIDS Control Organisation. FIH is consortium of Clinton Foundation (CF) and CARE. District Medical and Health Officer Balaramaiah, District AIDS Control Society Coordinator K. Manoramana, District TB Control Officer A. Raja Prasanna Kumar, representatives of NGOs and others participated in the workshop.

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