Gujarat: Vadodara has 6,000 HIV positive cases

[Guest guest]

Vadodara has 6,000 HIV positive cases

PRATHIMA NANDAKUMAR

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ SATURDAY, MAY 17, 2003 01:27:09 AM ]

VADODARA: If India has approximately about 40 lakh HIV positive

cases, Vadodara has a startling 6,000 cases, according to a recent

survey conducted by a state government-funded project.

" Gujarat, being an industrially-developed state, is highly vulnerable

to AIDS owing to its floating population, mostly comprising of

migrant labourers, " said Dr Yogesh Marfatia, a skin specialist,

during a training programme for doctors organised by the People's

Training and Research Centre.

" The alarming number of HIV cases is an indication that only a

negligible portion of the population in the city practices safe sex, "

he said.

" Unless we control sexuallytransmitted diseases, we can't contain the

spread of HIV, " Marfatia said, adding that a decade ago, the city did

not have even a single case of HIV. PTRC, a voluntary organisation,

is working towards prevention of HIV among industrial workers in the

city. PTRC workers have so far mapped about 10,000 workers in the

industrial belt of Makarpura.

" Industrial workers are among the high risk groups for HIV like truck

drivers, commercial sex workers, migrants, etc. We have identified

about 15 slum pockets in the Makarapura area, where we conduct

awareness and health camps, " said Suresh Parmar, a project officer.

" Training of medical professionals from all streams — be it ayurveda,

homoeopathy or allopathy — we are providing a wider choice to

industry workers for whom treatment is never affordable. The latest

strategy is to have a single approach to tackle all endemic diseases,

including the sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs), " said PTRC

director Jagdish Patel.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/xml/uncomp/articleshow?

msid=43605886

[Guest guest]

Dear Forum,

Ref: " Gujarat, being an industrially-developed state, is highly vulnerable

to AIDS owing to its floating population, mostly comprising of

migrant labourers, " said Dr Yogesh Marfatia, a skin specialist,

during a training programme for doctors organised by the People's

Training and Research Centre. "

I will like to have the contact details of People's Training and Research

Centre, Gujarat. Please help?

Javita Narang

E-mail: skacils@...