Be Smart drive to identify HIV affected people in TS

Hyderabad: The AIDS Control Society of the Telangana health department is embarking on a community-based screening campaign 'Be Smart,' for 15 days across the State from November 15.

During this campaign, officials and members of a few NGO organisations will do outreach testing at mass gathering places including labour addas, migrant colonies, construction and industrial risk sites and also in slums. People will be given awareness on HIV and assisted to assess their risk of HIV infection through a SMART application (which is a self-disclosure form) about status, mobility, addictions and history of blood transfusion.

According to officials, an interesting feature of this campaign is that individuals would know their HIV status within 15 minutes with no fear of identity disclosure of their status to others. Those found reactive in the screening during the special drive are accompanied by the NGO staff to get a HIV confirmation test at Integrated Counselling and Testing Centre.

Elaborating details, Dr G Anna Prasanna Kumari, Additional Project Director, TSACS, said that this was the first time AIDS screenings were being done by going to the doorsteps of the people.

According to our data, the number of AIDS-affected people in Telangana (between 14-49 age group) is 1.32 lakh but those undertaking Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) and AIDS pension from the government are roughly 83,000.

Due to social stigma or unawareness about it, around 50,000 people were still yet to be identified and our drive is to identify them by this outreach initiative, she said. AHF (AIDS Health Foundation), an NGO working with other the State governments in the country has teamed up with the health department for this drive.