Union Health Ministry on Friday announced ‘Test and Treat Policy for HIV’ for all men, women, adolescents and children who have been diagnosed as a HIV positive case.
To bridge the gap between estimations and real data of HIV cases in India, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is mooting a National Strategic Plan for HIV for next seven years.
“Health Ministry has already intensified its efforts to find all those that are estimated to be infected with HIV. India will soon develop a National Strategic Plan for HIV for next seven years and these seven years will be crucial for ending AIDS,” Union Health Minister J P Nadda said. “Out of 21 lakh estimated with HIV, we know only 14 lakh. To detect remaining we have revised national HIV testing guidelines and are aiming to reach out to people in community and test them where they are, with proper counselling and consent,” he said.
Union Health Ministry on Friday announced ‘Test and Treat Policy for HIV’ for all men, women, adolescents and children who have been diagnosed as a HIV positive case. The move is aimed to improve longevity, improve quality of life of those infected and to save them from many opportunistic infections, especially Tuberculosis. “As soon as a person is tested and found to be positive, s/he will be provided with Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) irrespective of his CD4 T lymphocytes (CD4 cells) count or clinical stage,” Nadda said.
“All those who are positive should get treatment and for that the Health Ministry is constantly expanding treatment delivery sites. We have nearly 1600 ART and Link ART sites where treatment is provided across the country. We have been able to avert 1.5 lakh deaths due to ART and we will be able to avert 4.5 lakh more deaths by expanding provision of ART,” he said.
Union Health Ministry has adopted a 90:90:90 strategy that focuses on identifying 90 per cent of those infected, place 90 per cent of these on treatment and ensure 90 per cent have their virus under control. HIV/AIDS Act was recently passed by the parliament. The key provisions of HIV/AIDS Bill are prohibition of discrimination, informed consent, non-disclosure of HIV status, anti-retroviral therapy and opportunistic infection management, protection of property of affected children, safe working environment and appointment of ombudsman in every State. Government is also looking at international partnerships to tackle the HIV AIDS problem.
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