Dial 1097 for hope

Around 42 million people in the world are living with HIV/AIDS, around 28 million have already succumbed to the disease. According to the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) more than four million people in India are HIV positive. However, field workers say that the number is higher than the projected one.
What is the condition in the city? Dr Glory Alexander, director, ASHA Foundation says, “There are around 14,632, HIV/AIDS infected people in the city and 50 per cent are in Bangalore urban district. The infected people fall in the age group of 15-49 years. Ninety per cent of the people below the age of 15 years have got it from their mothers. And Karnataka is one of the high prevalent states, i.e. where mother-to-child transmission of the virus is high.�
In the early ’80s HIV/AIDS was prevalent in sex workers. In the early ’90s it revealed itself in clients who indulged in multiple sexual activity. In late ’90s the spouses of these clients who did not practise safe sex got infected and now the mothers are transmitting it to the children. “And that’s the sign of an epidemic. In India, the disease is still on the upswing and it has not plateaued down.�
This in spite of awareness about the disease being as high as 80 per cent in the country. It is also more in urban than rural areas and men are considered to be more aware of the disease than women.
Prevention still remains the corner stone in controlling this epidemic. “For prevention there should be access to information, which is complete, sensitive, helpful and readily accessible,� says Dr Alexander. Keeping this in mind, ASHA Foundation established the city’s first HIV/AIDS Helpline in 1998.
Since its inception almost five years ago, the helpline has received 2,38,113 calls. “The biggest advantage of this helpline is that it maintains the anonymity of the caller, therefore it is a very useful tool in the context of stigma and discrimination attached to HIV/AIDS,� explains Dr Alexander.
But in the past five years, everyday there is new information on HIV/AIDS that needs to be conveyed to people. Hence ASHA Foundation has upgraded the helpline and the new helpline will be inaugurated today by Justice Michael Saldanha, who also inaugurated the helpline five years ago along with actress Shabana Azmi. The toll free number for the AIDS Helpline is 1097 and the manual telephonic counselling service is 3543333.
sudhapillai@indiatimes.com