Dip in HIV cases in DK

The prevalence rate of HIV positive cases in the district has gone down. According to the HIV Sentinel Surveillance which is held once in two years, the prevalence rate in DK was 0.75 per cent in 2008-09 which has reduced to 0.30 per cent in 2010-11.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, District Aids Control Officer Dr Kishore Kumar M said that the DK district has been listed 24th in the State in HIV prevalence. In the year 2011, around 877 HIV positive cases were detected.

This year 31,392 people were tested and 758 are found to be positive (till October 31). As many as 6,255 HIV positives are detected from 2006 to September 2012.

ARVP treatment

With an aim to completely avoid HIV transmission from parent to child, the department has started to administer Anti Retro Viral Prophylaxis (ARVP) to HIV positive pregnant women from September.

"We used to earlier give a tablet called Nevirapine to HIV positive women at the time of the delivery and start treatment on the child immediately after its birth.

With this, we were able to bring down the parent to child HIV transmission from 25 per cent to three per cent. With ARVP, we aim to bring it down to zero," said Dr Kishore.

The ARVP treatment will be administered to a woman from four months of her pregnancy and will go on during the breast feeding period. The child will be given treatment from birth to one and a half months.

This year, among the 19,515 tested, 20 pregnant women were found to be HIV positive. Eight women have already delivered and 12 women are undergoing ARVP treatment. The result of this treatment can only be found out after one and a half year, he adds.

Red ribbon clubs

As many as 32 colleges are members of the red ribbon club. The students are doing an excellent work of creating awareness. This year, the department has established Red ribbon clubs in all Sthri Shakthi Self Help Groups.

The department in association with Labour department has identified 16 industries and is conducting HIV tests on employees. Employees of five industries have already been tested and the remaining will be tested by December end, adds Dr Kishore.