Guwahati : Over 10 children have been found to be HIV positive in a child observation home at Jorhat in Assam recently.
Among the 77 children residing in the child observation home, medical support and treatment have been arranged for the 13 kids who have tested HIV positive
This alarming statistic has heightened concerns about the growing incidence of HIV in certain areas of the district
Pankaj Borah, Additional District Commissioner of Jorhat, claimed that most children in observation homes are drug addicts.
“Many children involved in anti-social activities are also drug addicts. The intersection of drug use, HIV, and anti-social behaviour is concerning,” he said.
He also claimed that child observation homes houses a number of drug addict children besides those who have been neglected due to unfortunate circumstances.
Assam State AIDS Control Society (ASACS), which has been working for the prevention of HIV/AIDS through different phases of the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) earlier said that the number of HIV infections is on the rise in Assam.
ASACS has taken various steps, especially amongst the High-Risk Groups (HRG) which include Injecting Drug Users (IDU), Female Sex Workers (FSW), Man Having Sex with Men (MSM), single male Migrant (SMM), Long Distance Truckers etc.
Index Testing (contact or partner tracing of the clients who have tested positive) is being done amongst the high-risk and the general population who are at risk. The Index Testing of high-risk populations is done by the 52 Targeted TI NGOs across Assam.
There are 107 stand-alone Integrated Counseling and Testing Centres (ICTC) across the state in the HIV-vulnerable places of the state.
For HIV treatment, Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) Centres are located at Guwahati Medical College Hospital, Silchar Medical College Hospital, Assam Medical College Hospital (Dibrugarh), Fakhruddin Ali Medical College Hospital (Barpeta), Jorhat Medical College Hospital, Tezpur Medical College Hospital, Diphu Medical College Hospital, Swahid Kushal Konwar Civil Hospital, Golaghat and BP Civil Hospital, Nagaon. Besides, Anti-Retroviral Therapy Dispensation Centres are in six central jails Guwahati, Nagaon, Jorhat, and Tezpur.