'Bihar among worst HIV-hit states'

[Guest guest]

'Bihar among worst HIV-hit states'

30 Jun, 2007 l 0358 hrs IST l TIMES NEWS NETWORK

PATNA: Regional Aids Training Centre and Network in India (RATNEI) medical

director Dr Diwakar Tejaswi said here on Friday Bihar and eastern UP are among

the worst HIV and Aids-hit states of the country.

Addressing the closing ceremony and certificate distribution function of

RATNEI’s five-day advance training on “Aids and Anti-Retroviral Therapy”,

Tejaswi said according to the combined records of doctors, sentinel sites and

mobile awareness and testing (MAT), there are about one lakh HIV positive cases

in Bihar and this number is continuously on the rise.

In MAT round-1, 80,000 HIV positive cases were detected in Sitamarhi alone. One

of the main causes of concern is that about 87 per cent of the affected patients

are not aware of their status, Tejaswi said and added that every person should

get himself tested even if he/she are not susceptible to HIV. The number of ART

centres should be increased for the benefit of the patients, as, at present,

there are only two ART centres in Bihar, Tejaswi said.

HIV positive children are a cause of serious concern as most of them have

inherited the disease from their parents. To reduce the number of such children,

the programme, “Prevention of Parent to Child transmission”, needs to be

strengthened. The use of condoms should be popularised among people not only in

cities, but also in rural areas, he added.

Quoting a survey report, Tejaswi said only 18 per cent of the rural women of the

state have heard of the HIV/Aids. Areas like Muzaffarpur, Kishanganj and Purnia,

which have high incidence of Aids, mostly among the migrant labourers, must be

made aware of the preventive measures like use of condoms, he said.

Chief guest Dr Gopal Prasad Sinha appraised the work done by RATNEI for the

cause of HIV positive and Aids patients. He urged doctors to participate in such

training programmes.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Bihar_among_worst_HIV-hit_states/artic\

leshow/2162927.cms

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Diwakar Tejaswi <diwakartejaswi@...>