SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Dec 1: Jharkhand has registered a sharp fall in prevalence rate of HIV cases despite lockdown due to Corona pandemic.
As per official record of Jharkhand AIDS Control Society (JACS), the prevalence rate of HIV has come down to 0.9% while in a 2019 survey it was 0.18% .
Though in one year, the state has registered an increase of 1,100 cases in comparison to the previous year. At present, the total HIV cases in the state are 26,900. Around 22,000 patients among them are registered at Antiretroviral Therapy( ART) centres across the state for treatment.
“Awareness is the only means for reducing the prevalence rate of HIV. So, the focus has been put on awareness campaigns in rural areas. Rally and other programmes are being organized in vulnerable pockets of state to make people aware about the infection,” said Dr. Shamim Akhtar, Deputy Director of AIDS Control Programme.
Dr. Akhtar further said that the performance of Jharkhand is better than in several states in the country. For achieving the mission (for arresting the prevalence rate), counselling and testing facilities have been restored at community health centres (CHCs) across the state. ART centres have also been set up in 15 districts of the state.
“As per the directive of project director Dr Bhubnesh Pratap Singh, the society has intensified on surveillance of disease and on promoting as well as encouraging people for donating,” said the deputy director adding that focus on detection of cases and their treatment has helped in reducing the prevalence rate.
As per the official survey report, Hazaribagh, Ranchi and East Singhbhum are the vulnerable districts in Jharkhand where cases have been detected in a comparatively large number. Koderma, Palamu and Dhanbad are in second spot in number of infected persons.
The deputy director also informed that surveillance and awareness campaigns for HIV did not suffer much during the Corona lockdown. “Since the district administration and the health department handled both Covid and HIV control campaigns simultaneously, routine programmes of HIV did not get affected,” he said.
