Remove obstacle to fight AIDS epidemic: Sudarshan Agarwal

New Delhi, Sep 16 (UNI) The country needs to scale up national programme to curb HIV/AIDS epidemic and remove any obstacles in prevention of the deadly disease, Uttaranchal Governor Sudarshan Aggarwal said today.

Inaugurating a two-day seminar on 'safe blood and healthy living-Inititiatives to fight HIV/AIDS' organised by Rotary Blood Bank in association with the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), Mr Agarwal said apart from the continuing scientific research to develop effective remedy for HIV/AIDS, their is an urgent need to remove and address the day-to-day obstacles associated with preventing the disease and halting the spread of deadly virus in the country .

''The country needs to scale up its HIV/AIDS programme to curb the epidemic and tackle obstacles including generating awareness about disease, setting up adequate testing facilities, removing the social stigma associated with the disease and take steps to train healthcare workers including doctors, nurses and midwives,'' he said.

He said political apathy, bureaucratic sloth and poverty were some of the major reasons behind spread of HIV/AIDS in the country.

At present, about 5.5 million people are suffering from the dreaded disease in the country. Lack of information about the disease, in addition to the inadequately administered government health care system at the Centre and the states, makes the country a "potential AIDS time bomb,", he said.

''It's no coincidence that these multiple epidemics exist among marginalised communities across the country including the poor, women, drug users, sex workers, gay, prisoners, migrants. The social, economic and political policies that create this marginalisation in the first place also push us into the path of oncoming epidemics," said Delhi Finance Minister A K Walia.

''Yet, we continue to place our hopes in prevention programmes that narrowly construct risk around individual behavior or in some new technology that will save us," he said.

The United Nations General Assembly's Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS said there is a direct link between AIDS and agriculture and nutrition. It has called for "sufficient, safe and nutritious food" as part of an overall HIV/AIDS strategy to country the disease.

Mr M B Kaushal, Director of Rotary Blood Bank said more than 100 doctors, technicians and social workers from blood banks from various parts of the country participated in the two-day seminar.

Experts attending the seminar will be discussing safe blood transfusion in the context of AIDS, psycho-social issues associated with HIV/AIDS, spreading awareness on the disease and relevant legal issues.

Seven states--Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Manipur, Mizoram, and Nagaland-- represent 22 per cent of the HIV postive population. Blood transfusion is becoming a major cause of spread of AIDS in India as eight per cent of the total cases are taking place due to blood transfusion, while 82 per cent cases occur due to unprotected sex.

UNI AJ AK RK1630