Vijayawada - ICT, The Salvation Army in ICT is very much involved in facing this challenge and rapidly working to defuse the stigma in the community with the principles of Home based Counseling. Our HIV Coordinators in the territory were sincerely committed to this task.
On 1st December we observed and participated in the rally organized by the district HIV / AIDS Control Board in connection with the International World AIDS Day with our Officers, Soldiers in the divisions. W have network with the local NGO's where the Army actively participates in all the programmes the government has well recongnised our services in the Krishna District.
While Andhra Pradesh still tops with maximum number of people living with HIV in India, the latest data released by National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) shows HIV dominance in the state has dipped from 0.90% in 2009 to 0.75% in 2011.
From 23,905 infections reported during 2009, the number of new infections dipped to 16,603 during 2011, which is a rare good sign, but overall the case load was still highest with 3.61 lakh to 4.88 lakh cases.
For God's sake we need to work more and find some other alternatives to help and support this community.
Reported by: Mr. Goni Devadanam, Divisional HIV / AIDS Coordinator, Vijayawada Division, India Central Territory
