RAJA APPEALS TO MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT TO ADVOCATE STRONGLY FOR
CREATING AWARENESS ON HIV/AIDS
The Minister of State
for Health and Family Welfare, Shri A Raja has said that the Parliamentarian
can play a key role to dispel people’s doubt on HIV/AIDS and help
remove the stigma and discrimination attached to this epidemic.
The involvement of Parliamentarian can help in advocating greater
Government support and participation in prevention of HIV/AIDS.
The Minister was interacting with the Parliamentarians in order
to involve them more into this emerging public health problem.
Shri Raja said that
HIV infection has been reported from all states in the country,
however the spread in uneven. It is also clear that a vast majority
of people have not yet acquired the virus. Enabling them to protect
themselves against HIV and providing adequate and affordable treatment
and care to the people living with the virus represents two of
the biggest challenges facing mankind today.
The Minister told
the MPs that tuberculosis is the most common serious opportunistic
infection in HIV/AIDS patients. Early diagnosis and complete treatment
of TB in HIV – TB cases can improve the quality of life as well
as longevity in such cases. The Government is making all efforts
to bring convergence between the National Aids and TB Control
Programmes in field level in order to facilitate counselling and
provision of treatment.
This was the second
such meeting organised by the Ministry to involve Parliamentarians
in creating awareness about this major public health problem.
The meeting was attended by 41 MPs who made various suggestions.
.One of the important suggestions was to constitute a National
and State Level Committee on AIDS involving MPs, MLAs, elected
Members of Panchayats, Municipal Bodies and NGOs which can give
feedback to the Ministry and help in reorienting an effective
public health care policy. They also expressed that more and more
testing facilities should be open at Primary Health Care Centres.
The Members also suggested that there should be a massive public
awareness campaign especially for the youth.
