Gurgaon: On World AIDS Day 2024, the State AIDS Control Society (SACS) launched a month-long AIDS awareness campaign on Sunday, under which Uber cabs, autos, and LED screens will deliver the message.
To reach a large number of commuters daily, 50 Uber cabs in the city have been deployed, along with 500 auto rickshaws carrying the awareness messages. As many as 24 LED screens at railway stations in the city, and 134 in Panipat at Common Service Centres across all districts will feature these messages. 200 LED screens in the city's 20 societies will also spread awareness among the people.
The state has seen a steady rise in HIV cases. According to data from the Union Ministry of Health and National AIDS Control Organisation, over 50,000 people have been living with HIV since 2019. The annual figure was 50,604 in 2019, and it rose to 56,578 in 2023, an increase of 11% over four years. In the years between, cases rose steadily. A total of 51,840 people lived with HIV in 2020, and it rose to 53,115 in 2021 and 54,547 in 2022.
The city has also witnessed a surge in HIV cases. In 2021, the district saw 201 cases, and it rose to 1,946 so far this year. Officials have attributed this rise to higher testing—the number more than doubled from 30,571 in 2020 to 67,681 this year.
Dr Virender Yadav, director, health services, said, "Though the numbers are increasing, the prevalence of the disease is still less than one percent in Gurgaon and also in the state. This indicates that as we are carrying out a large number of tests to identify cases at the earliest, the number of positive cases is increasing."
Meanwhile, Arti Rao, health minister said,"These tests are free of cost, and details are never disclosed to others, so people should not fear social pressure. It is true that we don't have a cure for AIDS, but we have come a long way as we are able to now control it and also manage patients who can live for more than 20 to 30 years after getting infected," she said at Gurugram University in the city.
Manish Bansal, director general health services said, "To curtail the spread of AIDS, awareness is the key. We are planning to intensify testing across Haryana."
AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, is usually considered to be the last stage of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) infection. It is considered so because the body's immune system is weak from the infection and cannot fight it.