AP Govt contemplating mandatory HIV/AIDS test

Hyderabad, Apr 17: The Andhra Pradesh Government is contemplating making HIV/AIDS tests mandatory despite objections from ''so-called human rights activists,'' Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy said today.

''I fail to understand the reasons behind their objections. What right a person has to infect his or her partner as also children with the dreaded diesease,'' he asked while inaugurating the 'Balasahyoga' programme here started by the Children's investment Fund Foundation supported by, among others, Clinton HIV/AIDS initiative, Family Health International and the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

''We first need to raise awareness among the public about the benefits of HIV-AIDS testing,'' he said.

The Andhra Pradesh Government was committed to achieving zero HIV positivity among new-born babies by effectively screening all pregnant women to prevent vertical transmission from mother to children, Dr Reddy said, adding that Doctors Club were being formed in every district to train them in treating AIDS patients.

The Chief Minister, who had himself undergone AIDS screening along with Speaker K R Suresh Reddy and 75 legislators as part of the ''be bold campaign,'' stressed the need for creating awareness among the public about HIV/AIDS.

Expressing happiness over the Foundation committing about USD 14 million over five years to reach out to 60,000 affected children, he said more than 600 children had been provided anti-retroviral treatment in Andhra Pradesh.

Foundation Chief Executive Officer Jamie Cooper-John expressed concern over the UNAIDS report that nearly 1.20 lakh children in India were infected with HIV.

Partnering the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) and the Andhra Pradesh State AIDS Control Society, the CISF-supported consortium would cover 11 worst-affected districts of Guntur, East Godavari, West Godavari, Chittoor, Kurnool, Medak, Vizianagaram, Kadapa, Ananthapur, Adilabad and Mahboobnagar, she said.

The India HIV/AIDS Alliance would cover over 24,000 children in the remaining 12 districts of Visakhapatnam, Krishna, Prakasam, Hyderabad, Khammam, Karimnagar, Warangal, Nalgonda, Nizamabad, Rangareddy, Nellore and Srikakulam, she informed.

Lamenting that the prevalence of HIV was more than one per cent in 19 out of 23 districts with very high prevalence in a few districts such as West Godavari (3.25 per cent) and Guntur (3 per cent), Dr Reddy said the Government had moved from awareness creation to action through increased access to services for prevention, testing, treatment, care and support.

UNI