The State government has set a stiff target for itself “ to reduce the number of HIV cases detected to zero by 2025, that is, nine years from now. This is five years earlier than the national target. Speaking at a one-day conference, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar also said there was a pressing need for society to interact with HIV+ people in order to reduce the stigma associated with the disease.
There is hope that Goa might be able to achieve this target as it has made huge strides in controlling the spread of AIDS. The statistical data collected over the last decade or so supports Goa’s case for a ‘zero detection rate’ in the next nine years. In 2007 for instance the state saw the highest number of HIV+ detections which was 1,094. This figure fell to 302 as of September this year. Even as the testing rate increases, the number of detections appears to be falling. In 1997 about 13.41 per cent of the cases tested were found to be HIV+ and this year (till September) the rate was 0.64 per cent. Which means the programme to virtually eradicate AIDS is on the right track and proceeding at a brisk, if not quick, pace.
However, Goa and the four Southern States, which account for 50 per cent of the HIV+ cases in the nation, have failed to eradicate the stigma attached to the disease. This makes testing more difficult because those belonging to high risk groups are reluctant to come forward to get themselves tested. As a consequence, those who have the virus but don’t know spread it. According to a World Health Organisation report 40 per cent of the 14 million HIV carriers worldwide are unaware of their status. The Chief Minister has called for greater integration between society and HIV+ people, but this is easily said than done. In 2014, a crisis like situation arose when a school in Revona dismissed 13 HIV+ orphan children after parents protested against their presence in the school. This incident drove home the sad truth that the stigma and fears associated with the disease are still prevalent in society. The government, clearly, has to do more to get rid of the fear, which more often than not, is based on a poor understanding of how the virus is transmitted from one person to another.
Because of the stigma attached to testing, the National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) is working on a programme to take testing to the door-step. The finger-prick test will be offered to individuals in high-risk groups by volunteers of NACO. The finger-prick test can be done by the individual, but for some reason NACO is reluctant to leave this in the hand of individuals. The 2030 target to eradicate HIV can be reached only with rigorous testing and Goa needs to increase the number of test samples to ensure complete coverage and reduce the number of ‘status unknown’ persons to zero.
