NACO working on elimination of HIV-AIDS in India by 2024: Dr. Deepak Chaturvedi
Bhopal, 25 May 2019 : Over the past 50 years, HIV-AIDS virus, which has caused death of millions of people ranging from large celebrities to common people all over the world, is now going to finish itself. Due to modern therapies that eliminate the latest discoveries and viruses in the body, there is every possibility that India will be able to become AIDS-free by 2024. Scientists are now very close in inventing Aids vaccine too. There are 40 million patients worldwide suffering from AIDS , while in India, their number is around 2 million. Last year about 88 thousand people in India were infected with this virus, whereas 68 thousand people succumb to the disease.
This was shared in a press conference organised here on Friday by renowned doctor Dr Deepak Chaturvedi. This press conference was organized as a part of concluding day of HIV / AIDS Vaccination Day and Awareness Week, which started from May 18 in city. He said that like polio, the National AIDS Control Organization is working on National Strategic Action Plan (2017-2024) to make India free of AIDS.
NACO working on elimination of HIV-AIDS in India by 2024: Dr. Deepak Chaturvedi
Informing about latest advances in AIDS treatment Dr. Chaturvedi said that this year a tablet has come to market for AIDS patients. This tablet does not allow AIDS virus to grow. Antiretroviral therapy — or ART — revolutionized HIV treatment in the past few decades And newer improvements, like one-pill-a-day drugs, are making life with HIV easier and safer.Other modern therapies include Bionar Dual Vaccine, Shock and Kill, Immune Therapy, French VAC-35 and Gene Therapy etc . Antiretroviral therapy with the success rate of approximately 95 percent is the most effective therapy . Scientists have developed different AIDS vaccines in different countries of the world, including Thailand, Norway and France, whose results are quite positive.
Dr Chaturvedi said that HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus. It is the virus that can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS, if not treated.HIV attacks the body’s immune system. HIV weakens ability to fight infection and disease. AIDS is the last step in HIV infection. He further said that deaths from AIDS are hidden for social causes in India, whereas in developed countries, people openly share in the public platform in this regard. Any person with suffering from AIDS can live his entire life in normal way if treated on time , but if the treatment is not done, the person dies normally within 11 years. While specific side effects depend on the drug, HIV treatment is much safer and easier to tolerate than it used to be.