The project, which took off last year in Mangalore, is aimed at creating awareness on HIV/AIDS among the ESIC members in the State. The labour community employed at the Peenya Industrial Area and Bommanahalli can also avail the benefits of the project, soon.
The mobile van in Bommanahalli Industrial Area will be launched on July 2 at Shahi Exports Private Limited, where Sankalp Project has recently trained 46 peer leaders from this industry, on regular intervention. They will undergo voluntary testing during the launch of mobile ICTC centre.
Sankalp Project Director S J Chander told Deccan Herald that plans were afoot to take mobile vans to places where the ESI dispensaries are not located. He said, "We are aiming at reaching out to people who are at high risk of exposure and vulnerable to the HIV/AIDS, especially, in the Industrial belt."
The mobile van will consist of a laboratory, a lab technician and two cabins for public counsellors.
The project though aims at counselling and treatment to the HIV-infected ESI beneficiaries, non-ESI members can also undergo counselling and testing here.
34 kiosks
Sankalp Project has approximately 34 kiosks including three hospitals in the State. The project, which actively started working in December in the City, has reported 38 HIV positive cases so far. Of the total 12,610 people who visited Information kiosk, 2,183 pregnant women underwent ante-natal check-up (ANC) and only 1,470 were motivated to go through the ICTC. A mere 455 people have gone through ICTC and 38 cases were reported positive.
ICTC centers have been receiving referred cases from various organisations to conduct counselling and testing. Though counselling centers existed much earlier records have been maintained only since 2006. As many as 27,210 cases have been counselled at the Rajajinagar ESI Hospital till date. Of the 490 cases tested positive, 38 were pregnant women.
Facility extended
At the Indiranagar ESI, the counselling initially started only among the pregnant women based on ANC. However, the counselling was further extended to referred cases and volunteers too. From 2006, around 17,101 cases were counselled and tested. Of the 197 cases tested positive, 44 were pregnant women.
The project 'Sankalp' is a joint venture of Hindustan Latex Family Planning Promotion Trust (HLFPPT) and ESIC (Employees State Insurance Corporation) and was assigned to Population Service International (PSI), a non-profit organisation working in the field of public health.
The Saadhan Mobile van entered organised sectors in Mangalore. PSI's workplace programs on HIV/AIDS and TB (Tuberculosis) were implemented in 105 Industries.
The vans also covered unorganised sectors of transport, construction and fishing, and educated people on HIV/AIDS. Nearly 1,609 people volunteered themselves to be counselled and tested at the ICTC centres since the project was launched in Mangalore last year by former Union Labour Minister Oscar Fernandes.