AIDS cases continue to rise in new areas

BHUBANESWAR: The spectre of HIV in Orissa is not yet over. HIV prevalence in the State last year declined to 0.35 per cent from 0.5 per cent in 2008. But the State adds around 3,500 new cases
Mayor Ananta Jena, along with school children, taking part in a painting show on the eve of the World AIDS Day.
Mayor Ananta Jena, along with school children, taking part in a painting show on the eve of the World AIDS Day.
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BHUBANESWAR: The spectre of HIV in Orissa is not yet over. HIV prevalence in the State last year declined to 0.35 per cent from 0.5 per cent in 2008. But the State adds around 3,500 new cases every year and a survey data has indicated that most of them are from new areas not covered earlier.

“The prevalence in pregnant women attending the ante-natal clinics in many low prevalence districts like Rayagada, Bargarh, Boudh, Nabarangpur and a few others have registered a rise, which is very disturbing. Already, the prevalence in women is 0.23 per cent and occupies 8th slot in the top-10 prevalence states. Moreover, the female HIV infections in Orissa account for over 60 per cent of the male infections. These signs are very ominous,” said an OSACS official.

He said the State has now around 2,000 child HIV cases against around 1,800 in 2008.

It is pertinent to mention that UNAIDS Report 2010 based on National AIDS Cell data has mentioned that HIV prevalence in the country has fallen significantly due to good performance of high risk states like AP and Maharashtra.

The same data has, however, noted a rise in states like Orissa, Gujarat and West Bengal.

A look at the interventions provided under NACP (National AIDS Control Programme) - III till January 2010 provides more clues. It is seen that the most high risk groups in the State are: FSW (female sex workers) and migrants. The significance is, migrants belong to poor resource regions of the State and FSWs mainly operate in cities and industrial towns. Also, it is well known that ICTCs (Integrated Counselling and Test Centres) play a pivotal role in detecting the new infections.

But Orissa has failed to open up any new facility (integrated ICTCs) in primary health centres despite being mandatory to do so under NACP-III. Now, only stand alone ICTCs are functioning in the State at the district/city level or at the CHC level.

“Given that most villagers migrate to cities for work, NACP-III has proposed the model of facility integrated ICTCs to conduct better surveillance. But failure to open a single centre last year might be responsible for such spurt in deep rural pockets. ICTCs play an important role in suggesting behaviour changes,” explained the official.

Data also reveal that Orissa has failed to address this year’s theme - universal access and human rights. Orissa has four A category districts namely Angul, Bolangir, Bhadrak and Ganjam but till 2009, the State has not set up any ART centre at Bolangir and Angul.

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