COMBATING HIV IN MANIPUR

With the objective of amplifying the voices of people living with HIV/AIDS in Manipur, a round table conference organized by the World Vision along with victims of HIV/AIDS was held on Wednesday at Imphal. The HIV/AIDS victims charged the government of of neglecting the welfare of people living with HIV/AIDS in Manipur. Manipur, which has the highest prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS in India has more than 40,000 people living with HIV/AIDS. They face the constant problems of frequent stock out of ART, non-availability of proper testing and treatment facilities, lack of support for women and children affected with HIV/AIDS, lack of means to tackle co-infection of Hepatitis C with HIV/AIDS and so on. With the objective of highlighting the apathy from the government, a round table conference organized by the World Vision along with PLHIV of Manipur was held on Wednesday in which grievances of the PLHIVs in Manipur were highlighted. One of the urgent issue that was highlighted was the lack of interest shown by the Central and Manipur government shown towards children and women living with HIV/AIDS in Manipur. At the conference, the long pending of the HIV and AIDS Bill was also criticized while urging for its immediate passing in the Indian Parliament. At the conference held to amplify the voices of PLHIV, various problems faced by PLHIV were highlighted. While highlighting the immense hardships faced by PLHIV in Manipur, the conference called for appropriate steps from the government on the frequent stock out of ART medicine in various ART administering centre in Manipur while urging for the immediate removal of 2nd Line ART treatment eligibility procedure from Control of State AIDS Clinical Expert Panel. It may be mentioned that Manipur is experiencing a rapid rise in PLHIVs from poorer section of society dying from Hepatitis C which is mainly due to the absence of testing facilities and non providence of cheaper treatment facilities. Another major concerned is the administration of lethal drugs like Stavudine and Tenofovir by the state run ART centres in Manipur despite the WHO banning the concerned drugs a long time back.

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