National AIDS Prevention and Control Policy

Policy Detail:

Introduction

The available surveillance data clearly indicates that HIV is prevalent in almost all parts of the country. In the recent years it has spread from urban to rural areas and from individuals practicing risk behaviour to the general population. Studies indicate that more and more women attending ante-natal clinics are testing HIV-positive thereby increasing the risk of perinatal transmission. The attributable factors for such rapid spread of the epidemic across the country today are labour migration and mobility in search of employment from economically backward to more advanced regions, low literacy levels leading to low awareness among the potential high risk groups, gender disparity, sexually transmitted infections and reproductive tract infections both among men and women. The social stigma attached to sexually transmitted infections also holds good for HIV/AIDS. The effects of stigma are devastating. Discrimination against People Living With HIV/AIDS denies them access to treatment, services and support and hinders effective responses. It creates a climate in which decisive action from the government may be side stepped. There have been cases of refusal of treatment and other services to AIDS patients in hospitals and nursing homes both in Government and private sectors. This has compounded the misery of the AIDS patients. More often it is mistaken to be a contagious disease and patients are isolated in the wards creating a scare among the general patients. In the workplace there are cases of discrimination leading, on some occasions, to loss of employment. The active part played by some non-Governmental organisations in bringing out public interest litigations against such cases of discrimination and the judicial pronouncements by courts in support of the rights of such people has partly helped in alleviating the misery of the affected persons. People Living With HIV/AIDS have provided the best response to the stigma and the denial that shroud the epidemic. They bring faces and voices to the realities.

Reference : naco.gov.in

Objectives and Goals

The general objective of the policy is to prevent the epidemic from spreading further and to reduce the impact of the epidemic not only upon the infected persons but upon the health and socio-economic status of the general population at all levels. The policy envisages effective containment of the infection levels of HIV/AIDS in the general population in order to achieve zero-level of new infections by 2007. The specific objectives of the policy are:

(i) to reiterate strongly the Government’s firm commitment to prevent the spread of HIV infection and reduce personal and social impact.

(ii) to generate a feeling of ownership among all the participants both at the Government and non-Government levels, like the Central Ministries and agencies of the Government of India, State Governments, city corporations, industrial undertakings in public and private sectors, panchayat institutions and local bodies to make it a truly national effort

(iii) To create an enabling socio-economic environment for prevention of HIV/AIDS, to provide care and support to people living with HIV/AIDS and to ensure protection/promotion of their human rights including right to access health care system, right to education, employment and privacy.to mobilise support of a large number of NGOs/ Community Based Organisations (CBOs) for an enlarged community initiative for prevention and alleviation of the HIV/AIDS problem.

(iv) To decentralise HIV/AIDS control programme to the field level with adequate financial and administrative delegation of responsibilities.

(v) To strengthen programme management capabilities at the State Governments, municipal corporations, panchayat institutions and leading NGOs participating in the programme.

(vi) To bring in horizontal integration at the implementation level with other national programmes like Reproductive and Child Health, TB Control, Integrated Child Development Scheme and with the primary health care system.

(vii) To prevent women, children and other socially weak groups from becoming vulnerable to HIV infection by improving health education, legal status and economic prospects

(viii) To provide adequate and equitable provision of health care to the HIV-infected people and to draw attention to the compelling public health rationale for overcoming stigmatisation, discrimination and seclusion in society

(ix) To constantly interact with international and bilateral agencies for support and cooperation in the field of research in vaccines, drugs, emerging systems of health care and other financial and managerial inputs.

(x) To ensure availability of adequate and safe blood and blood products for the general population through promotion of voluntary blood donation in the country.

(xi) To promote better understanding of HIV infection among people, especially students, youth and other sexually active sections to generate greater awareness about the nature of its transmission and to adopt safe behavioural practices for prevention.

Discussion

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Introduction

Objectives and Goals

Discussion

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