Chennai: With several measures being taken across the State to control HIV infection, this World AIDS Day that falls on 1 December, Tamilnadu State AIDS Control Society (TANSACS) is geared up to conduct community testing throughout the month. It is primarily done to encourage more people from the districts and villages to get tested and treat the condition.
“Every Saturday of the month, counsellors, lab technicians and doctors of District AIDS Prevention Control Unit (DAPCU) functioning across the districts will select institutions and common forum in villages and counsel them to take the HIV test. We also ensure that the details are kept safe if detected positive. People identified with the disease will be informed personally,” said TANSACS project director, Dr Senthil Raj.
This year’s theme is ‘Know Your Status’ for which the department has taken a slew of measures to take it to the high-risk groups.
Explaining, Dr Senthil Raj added, “We organised a competition in November for college students where the participants had to create memes about AIDS awareness. The contest is open till 30 November and the best will be officially released to the public on 1 December.”
“A common event where people affected with HIV and other residents dine together is also planned in the district centres to emphasise that the disease does not spread by eating together or while speaking or touching the patient,” stated Dr Senthil Raj.
“Twice in a year, the high-risk group is taken to the nearest centre for screening and directed to ART centre if found to have contracted the condition. More than 90,000 condoms are distributed across the State to them every year,” he added.
During the annual festival of transgenders at Koovagam, around one lakh transgenders gather to celebrate. In an attempt to prevent people from contracting the virus, doctors and counsellors of TANSACS organise health camps throughout the night and counsel them about safe sex and also distribute condoms.
Indian Community Welfare Organisation (ICWO) that has been working towards prevention in and around the city reach out to more than 3,000 transgenders and gay community in Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kanchipuram.
Elaborating about the strategy, ICWO secretary A J Hariharan said, “We do peer-educators programme where if one person is educated about the preventive measures, the individual has to reach out to 60 people from the community.”
To prevent it from reaching epidemic proportions, the organisation, with help from TANSACS, implements Link Workers’ Scheme (LWS).
“We identify the high-risk population – unlike cities they are found hidden – conduct camps for screening and refer them to government hospitals for ART treatment. Currently, it is being carried out in Tiruvallur and considered a model programme of Tamilnadu,” added Hariharan.
However, the 2017-2018 data provided by TANSACS shows that there are a total of 10,527 cases in the State and Chennai has the highest number of HIV population, accounting for 887, followed by Tiruchi that has 623 cases and Madurai, 580.
It should be noted that the count has come down compared to the last few years.
HIGH AMONG MIGRANTS
Speaking about the high-prevalence in Chennai, TANSACS deputy director, Dr Arun, stated, “Owing to the migrant population in the city, the number has gone up. Since they keep travelling to their hometown and workplace, the NGOs working for them find it difficult. The count among proper Chennai residents would come to only around 300.”