Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Wednesday, Dec 24, 2003
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Wednesday, Dec 24, 2003 |
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Industry & Economy
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Health HIV among antenatals on decline in AP Our Bureau
Hyderabad , Dec 23 THE prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection among antenatal cases in Andhra Pradesh is showing a downward trend with the increasing awareness among the people and strong political advocacy and commitment to the cause of acquired immuno deficiency syndrome (AIDS) prevention. According to the State Minister for Health, Dr K. Siva Prasada Rao, the awareness levels among the urban women has gone up from 44 per cent in 1998 to 96 per cent in 2002. HIV prevalence among antenatals has declined from 2.44 per cent in 1999 to 1.62 per cent at present. HIV transmission through blood transfusion has declined from 4 per cent to 1 per cent. At the same time, people accessing voluntary counselling and testing centres has increased and condom use has gone up. Though these were some of the positive indications, Dr Rao said there was a lot more to do to prevent the spread of AIDS. He emphasised the need for addressing the issue on a massive scale, as there were an estimated 4.58 million HIV positive persons in the country out of which four lakh belonged to Andhra Pradesh. Addressing a workshop on `Media strategies on HIV/AIDS,' organised by the State Government here on Tuesday, the Minister pointed out that more than the disease, patients suffering from AIDS-related ailments were subjected to social discrimination. Hence, there was a need for adoption of a multi-sectoral and multi-pronged strategy that included aggressive media campaign. The AP State AIDS Control Society Project Director, Ms K. Damayanthi, said that if the spread of HIV were not stopped now, the State would be subjected to the attack of multiple epidemics in future. The Principal Secretary to the State Health, Medical and Family Welfare Department, Mr. S. Bhale Rao, said that the workshop was a part of the consultative process initiated by the State Government for building awareness, disseminating information and removing misconceptions about AIDS. The former Chairman of the Press Academy of Andhra Pradesh, Mr. P. Venkateshwara Rao, said that newspapers have played a major role in eradicating social evils like child marriages in the country in the past 125 years. He felt that media would be able to play a similar role at present for prevention of AIDS. A number of journalists belonging to print and electronic media took part in the workshop.
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