Mumbai: HIV helpline sees drop in calls from 10,000 to 2,000

A 53-year-old man recently called an HIV helpline to know if he would be infected with the virus if he had unprotected sex with an HIV positive woman.

Counsellors claim that they receive approximately 10 calls every day from people on the helpline. The queries range from HIV awareness to misconceptions and complaints. The helpline was taken over by the Mumbai Districts AIDS Control Society (MDACS) in 2012. It received good response in the first four years. However, the number of calls have reduced since 2016.

Earlier, the helpline would get 10,000 calls every year, now it's 2,000.

Dr Srikala Acharya, additional project director of MDACS, said that 1097 helpline is toll-free. "The Saadhan helpline is used for MDACS's campaign related to HIV -- inquiry related to TB and monsoon-related information. Saadhan is not a toll-free helpline so the number of calls has reduced."

Besides the number of calls, even the funding for the helpline by National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) have reduced drastically.

An RTI response from MDACS stated that between 2012 and 2017, NACO gave Rs 16-17 lakh a year for the helpline but now it's just Rs 3 lakh.

The number of counsellors has reduced from three to a single person. As per RTI data, this year in past four months, the helpline received 948 calls, while last year the number was 2,602 calls. The helpline received maximum number of calls (16, 550) in 2013.