BERHAMPUR: Even as World AIDS Day is celebrated around the globe on December 1 to raise awareness about the HIV pandemic, the coastal district of Ganjam alone contains 35 per cent of the total HIV caseload of the State.
The district has 15,373 infected population with a male-female ratio of 60:40, while the cumulative number of HIV population in Odisha is 43,000. Since the opening of Integrated Counselling and Testing Centre (ICTC) in 2000, the district has so far tested 10,06,390 persons, including 5,29,997 pregnant women, for HIV.
In the last 18 years, the district has succeeded in saturating the antenatal care (ANC) population for HIV testing and reduced ‘mother to child transmission’ with the initiatives of ARUNA, an NGO engaged in HIV prevention.
Now, community level screening in village health nutrition days has been started by OSACS-NHM in the district to further saturate ANC population under the Prevention of Parent to Child Transmission (PPTCT) programme.
This apart, two Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) centres at Berhampur and Bhanjanagar and two link-ART centres at Polasara and Aska are functioning to provide treatment to people who have contracted HIV. More than 12,000 HIV infected people in the district are getting pension under Madhu Babu Pension Yojana (MBPY).
Sraddha Sanjeevani Child Care Home (SSCCH), a district level initiative to provide asylum to HIV-infected children, orphans and vulnerable children was set up in Gopalpur in 2007. At least 54 such children have been accommodated in these facilities.
Lokanath Mishra, one of the founding members of SSCCH, said currently, seven inmates are continuing their education in Government-run ITI at Berhampur and three boys are undergoing training on different trades under Central-sponsored skill development scheme.
Meanwhile, to contain the disease by 2020, a Sustainable Development Goal has been adopted under which 90 per cent testing of HIV infected population and their ART treatment will be carried out. Migration being the major cause of HIV transmission, focus will be on creating awareness among the local youths on the disease.