{"id":115419,"date":"2021-06-29T21:27:17","date_gmt":"2021-06-29T15:57:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=115419"},"modified":"2021-06-29T21:27:17","modified_gmt":"2021-06-29T15:57:17","slug":"keeping-alive-conversations-about-aids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/keeping-alive-conversations-about-aids\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeping alive conversations about AIDS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><b>Source: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/epaper.thehindu.com\/Home\/ShareArticle?OrgId=GEO8NCJ2G.1&amp;imageview=0\"><b>The Hindu<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Relevance<\/strong>: India needs to look for each and every way to control the pandemic. Among that, <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">lessons from chronic diseases might provide some valuable suggestions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Synopsis: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To handle the COVID-19 pandemic, we can learn from the lessons of chronic diseases like HIV\/AIDS.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><b>Introduction\u00a0<\/b><\/h5>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a rare fungal infection of the lungs in five persons on June 5, 1981. The world learned for the first time about the Human Immunodeficiency Virus(HIV) infection in patients with a weakened immune system.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India became one of the most successful countries in the world in combating the HIV\/AIDS disease between 1997 and 2010. In 2012, the Centre hailed the achievement of &#8220;managing\u00a0 AIDS&#8221; as a minor step forward in the long process of combating the disease.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li>However, now India is lagging behind the targets. For example;\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The WHO aimed that 90 percent of persons living with HIV\/AIDS will be on antiretroviral medication, by 2020. Now, at least five years have been added to the deadline.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Former Union Health Secretary and Director of the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), J.V.R. Prasada Rao, is concerned that the country&#8217;s hard-won successes may be jeopardised.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>Why India is lagging behind in controlling HIV\/AIDS?<\/b><\/h5>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The HIV <\/span><b>infection diagnosis rate dropped from 60% in 2010 to 23% in 2019.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0the mortality rate doubled, and new cases spiked five times more during the period.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>This happened because the campaign to educate and empower the vulnerable communitie<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">s, like MSM (men who have sex with men), IDUs (Injecting Drug Users), migrant and sex workers, and truck drivers, is not happening.<\/span><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<h5><b>Suggestions<\/b><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Firstly, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">strong political leadership, financial support, advocacy, and activism are crucial in the successful handling of the movement. <\/span><b>A long-term view of AIDS beyond the health sector and the socio-economic impacts of the epidemic should be considered.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Secondly,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0To contain AIDS, a <\/span><b>multi-sectoral and multi-pronged strategy<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is required.\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Supporting science-driven approaches<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, good quality data, and empirical evidence; and consolidating guidelines are necessary to combat any medical crises.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>The nationalised AIDS treatment plan<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a perfect example of how early detection, diagnosis, and treatment saved many lives.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Thirdly, the NACP\u2019s experience in dealing with HIV needs to be tapped into<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The existing workforce in 21,000 Integrated Counselling and Testing Centres (ICTC) is well-equipped. They can help in the early detection of infections, reduce vulnerability, and link people with care and treatment services.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Fourthly, the government needs to change its priorities and re-energise the ICTCs<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to uphold the right to treatment and the dignity of individuals affected by diseases. Using the available tools in the healthcare system is the best way to mainstream health crises.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><strong>Terms To Know:<\/strong><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li>Human Immunodeficiency Virus(HIV)<\/li>\n<li>Integrated Counselling and Testing Centres (ICTC)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source: The Hindu Relevance: India needs to look for each and every way to control the pandemic. Among that, lessons from chronic diseases might provide some valuable suggestions. Synopsis: To handle the COVID-19 pandemic, we can learn from the lessons of chronic diseases like HIV\/AIDS. Introduction\u00a0 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/keeping-alive-conversations-about-aids\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Keeping alive conversations about AIDS<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10315,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":1700779961,"cached_date":1704609324},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10315"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115419\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}