PANAJI
Speaking at the one-day Greater Involvement of People Living with HIV/AIDS (GIPA) conference, Parsekar said the government from its end would also work towards achieving the target.
“We will achieve our target to have zero new infections by 2030. More important than zero new infections, is zeroing discrimination and this doesn’t take long to achieve. The government through means available will work to achieve this,” said Parsekar.
He also urged those suffering from the disease not to hide and instead interact more openly with the society. He also asked the society to be open to interacting with them too. Parsekar also added that associations like the Red Ribbon Club in higher secondary, polytechnics, ITIs and universities are constantly working towards achieving the goal. “And society should understand it is part and parcel of life,” he said.
Being one of the highest in terms of the literacy rate, Parsekar also said there was need for the State to lead by example and be the first to have a zero new infections status despite being the first state to report it in India.
According to figures gathered by the Goa State AIDS Control Society (GSACS) 2007 had registered the most number of HIV positive cases with 1,094 but subsequently began reducing. As of this year (till September) there were 302 cases of HIV positive people.
Testing for the disease has also been on the increase. Last year alone, there were 62,657 samples tested for HIV. The positivity rate reduced from 13.41 percent in 1997 to 0.64 per cent till September this year.
Parsekar also praised Pune based general secretary of the National Coalition of People Living with HIV in India (NCPI+) Manoj Pardeshi who had spent 23 years with the disease and dealing with it rather than suppressing it. “He should be seen as an inspiration for everyone not to be frustrated with the society and instead get ready to educate the society. With people like this, everyone can stand in pride,” he said.
An mobile phone application was also launched at the event which serves as support to outreach workers to efficiently serve HIV+ patients living in and around Goa. This is part of a national initiative of NACO and the Global Fund to prioritise clients for daily outreach analyzing their health conditions and other service requirements.
The application works without internet connectivity and helps outreach workers to do real time updating of the services and provide the information to patients through a Computerised Information Management System.
