Tirupati: Awareness rallies, meetings mark World AIDS Day

Tirupati/Chittoor: The Centre for Women's Studies in Sri Venkateswara University organised the World AIDS Day programme on Wednesday. Addressing the students on the occasion, SV University College of Arts Principal Prof B V Muralidhar explained the difference between HIV and AIDS and the precautions to be taken by the youth.

Dean, Development Prof Stanley Jayakumar said societal awareness was key along with personal awareness in curbing the deadly diseases like AIDS and coronavirus. It is important to end the imbalances and everyone should strive for eliminating such diseases.

Head of Economics Department Prof R Suneetha said that the society should not discriminate against HIV patients but to create awareness among them to take medicines to increase immunity from the disease and nutrition levels. Centre for Women's Studies Director Prof D Krishna Murthy said that there were 3.7 crore HIV affected people across the world and by taking antiretroviral therapy 73 per cent of them have increased their lifespan.

Head of Econometrics Department Dr Suneetha, Dr Ramana, Dr D Rajarajeswari, Dr K Srilatha Kishori, Dr V Jagadeeswari and others took part in the programme. An awareness rally was also held in the campus on this occasion.

Another rally was conducted by SETVEN at Ruia hospital which was flagged off by Superintendent Dr T Bharathi. Later, a meeting was held at Sri Padmavathamma government College of Nursing in which SETVEN CEO Dr V Muralikrishna stressed the need for educating people on AIDS and the preventive steps.

Principal of Nursing College Dr Ch Mariya Rojamma, SETVEN Manager G Satyanarayana, K Mohan Kumar and others participated.

In Chittoor, District Medical and Health Officer Dr A Srihari Rao called upon voluntary organisations to participate actively in combating the dreaded AIDS disease.

Rao said the government has committed to contain the disease by way of creating awareness among the people from the clutches of AIDS. To mark the World AIDS Day, a massive rally was organised from Chittoor Government Hospital to Gandhi statue on Wednesday.

Addressing the rally, the DMHO said the district has 13,630 AIDS patients and due treatment is given in prescribed hospitals at free of cost besides offering nutricious food. District Legal Services Authority secretary Karunakaran felt that awareness against the AIDS should be created extensively in the district.