Tamil Nadu: District-level AIDS prevention and control units planned

[Guest guest]

District-level AIDS prevention and control units planned

Special Correspondent

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Rs.5 crore allotted to set up a corpus fund for a Trust

The Trust will be managed by TANSACS

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CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society (TANSACS) plans to

set up District AIDS Prevention and Control Units (DAPCUs), Chief

Secretary, L.K. Tripathy, said here on Saturday.

Inaugurating a one-day regional conference of District Collectors on

HIV/AIDS, Mr. Tripathy said the decision was to further strengthen

prevention and controlling programmes to be implemented across the

State.

He explained that the leadership of the Collectors was important

since TANSACS had embarked on National AIDS Control Programme (NACP)

Phase-III initiatives after achieving considerable success in

creating greater awareness and providing care and support to the HIV

affected.

Funds allotted

Appealing to the Collectors to scale up special focus programmes on

prevention and control activities by enlisting the support of self-

help groups and other non-governmental organisations, Mr. Tripathy

said the government had allotted Rs.5 crore to set up a corpus fund

for a Trust, which would be managed by TANSACS to help orphan

children and widows affected by the disease.

He said the T.B. sanatorium at Tambaram had become a centre of

excellence in the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS programmes. He

urged the Collectors to utilise the HIV/AIDS control programme

initiatives to improve water, sanitation, and health cover programmes

through the primary health centres.

Mr. Tripathy released a booklet on District HIV/AIDS profile and a

status report of TANSACS' initiatives.

Damodar Bachani, Joint Director, National AIDS Control Organisation

(NACO), said Rs.80 crore would be made available to the TANSACS

during 2008-09 for massive programmes in healthcare and support for

the HIV/AIDS affected in Tamil Nadu.

V.K. Subburaj, State Health and Family Welfare Secretary, enumerated

the steps taken by the government to arrest the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Project Director and Member Secretary of TANSACS, Supriya Sahu,

sought the help of the 15 Collectors who were participating in the

conference to identify `hot spots' in their districts, especially

Salem, Madurai, Tiruchi, Krishnagiri, Theni and Namakkal.

TANSACS, she said, had decided to decentralise and strengthen the

district-level response as per recent classification by NACO. TANSACS

has 22 category `A' districts, five `B' and three `C' to help

intensify programmes depending on the vulnerability of the district.

http://www.thehindu.com/2008/05/04/stories/2008050454130400.htm