NACO to go all out for AIDS control, to open 400 more centres

New Delhi, Apr 23 (UNI) Shifting to top gear in the fight against AIDS, the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) today said it is opening 400 more testing centres in several states across the country, including the densely populated Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

The other states where such sentinel sites would be opened for detecting the prevalence of HIV/AIDS among pregnant women and people suffering from sexually transmitted diseases are Rajasthan, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, NACO Director General Sujata Rao told reporters.

With this, the number of testing centres would go up from 750 to 1,150, Ms Rao said at the conclusion of a three-day National Conference on Research in HIV/AIDS -- Gaps, Priorities and Strategies.

Describing the next five years as ''critical'' for NACO, the research community and others involved in checking the spread of the dreaded disease, Ms Rao said in her valedictory address that ''if we slacken the efforts now, we blow it all.'' ''There is absolutely no question of letting down our guard until an effective cure to HIV/AIDS is found. We will continue to be vigilant,'' she said.

Expressing satisfaction over the achievements made so far, Ms Rao said frightening projections had been made in 1993, putting the number of infected persons in India at 25 million by 2020.

However, the present probable prevalence of HIV/AIDS is estimated at 5.21 million, which is just one-fifth of the projections which had been made, she pointed out.

Further, the prevalence has shown a declining trend in states like Tamil Nadu where the first cases in the country were detected.

In Tamil Nadu, the percentage of sex workers and other high risk groups testing positive for the virus had come down to 0.9 per cent, from 2.3 per cent. This was very much within the one per cent limit set by the World Health Organisation (WHO), she explained.

Though more testing centres would be opened, the methodology of sample collection and the lab technology would remain the same, she clarified.

Among other new steps being taken by NACO are ensuring coordination and cooperation among the researchers, sensitisation and stimulation of young researchers, promotion of anti-retrovirology treatment, creating a proper social environment for infected people and empowerment of vulnerable groups, especially women.

Decrying the tendency among some so-called experts to come out with higher prevalence of the HIV/AIDS cases and making alarming projections for the future, she said there is no scientific basis for arriving at such conclusions.

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