AIDS awareness drive hit; cases high in Jind, Faridabad

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, December 4

The pandemic has hit AIDS awareness programme badly as the number of tests has declined significantly during the Covid period.

As per the data collected by The Tribune, in 2021-22 so far, the Health Department has tested 6,32,475 people, while in 2020-21, as many as 10,33,634 people were tested. In 2019-20, 13,06,426 samples were tested, the data read.

Dr Renu Pahal Malik, project director, Haryana State AIDS Control Society (HSACS), said Covid had hit the awareness programme, but now it had been sped up.

Fortnight campaign from dec 1

We are observing a fortnight awareness campaign across the state from Dec 1-15, under which several prorgammes will be organised. —Dr Renu Pahal Malik, Project director, Haryana state aids control society

Dr Malik was in Karnal on Friday to launch an awareness campaign and flagged off 50 cabs which will roam across the district to spread awareness about AIDS. Accompanied by Karnal Civil Surgeon Dr Yogesh Sharma, she said the situation in Jind and Faridabad was worrisome as the number of cases in both districts were high.

“At present, there are 37,700 registered cases. Of them, 19,754 are being treated in the state,” she said.

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