The Hindu : Centre's nod for policy on AIDS prevention

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 03, 2002

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Centre's nod for policy on AIDS prevention

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI April 2. The Union Cabinet today gave its nod for the long-awaited national policy on prevention and control of HIV/AIDS and a policy on blood transfusion services.

The policy on HIV/AIDS had been keenly awaited by various stakeholders of the health sector, as unlike other diseases, HIV/ AIDS had several social and economic dimensions also.

The Government had issued guidelines from time to time to address these issues, but they were found to be hardly adequate in meeting the demands fully. A major issue related to the human rights of the HIV affected, particularly their rights to access health care system, education, employment and privacy.

Another issue was regarding the vulnerability of women to contract the disease on account of their economic and social conditions.

Gender bias and low level of literacy among women acted as major stumbling blocks in creating awareness about the disease.

The new policy seeks to address these and other issues in a comprehensive manner.

Announcing the Cabinet decision, a spokesperson of the Union Health Ministry noted that as many as 3.86 million people were estimated to be infected with HIV in the country, and that the prevalence rate was more than 1 per cent in six States — Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Manipur and Nagaland.

The policy had been in the making since December 1997, when the Health Ministry, for the first time, circulated a draft of the policy among State Governments, the Planning Commission and various Central Ministries.

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