Original Research Article
Year: 2018 | Month: October | Volume: 5 | Issue: 10 | Pages: 172-176
“TREAT ALL” - A Necessary Boon to Indian ART (HIV) Program
Dr. Kethavath Sunil Naik1, Dr. Sabhavathu Vijaya2, Dr. Kiran Anaparthi3
1Assoc. Professor, Dept. of General Medicine, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Srikakulam.
2Assoc. Professor, Dept. Of Pharmacology, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Srikakulam.
3In charge Medical Officer, Anti Retroviral Therapy Centers, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Srikakulam, AP, India.
Corresponding Author: Dr. Sabhavathu Vijaya
ABSTRACT
HIV prevalence in India is on declining trend with less than 1% of new infections among total ANCs and Srikakulam has recorded an incidence of 0.63% of new infections among total ANCs attending hospitals in Srikakulam district, Andhra Pradesh and is at par with national statistics. This decline is due to nation’s effort to control new infections by a more decentralized effort through FICTC testing at PHC level and scaling up of ART services. The country’s measures to combat HIV infection were taken to next level after introduction of “TREAT ALL” in Dec 2017. This was a cross sectional study to asses implementation and success of new concept by comparing year of implementation with the previous year. The reports of financial year 2016-17 and 2017-18 were assessed by comparing cumulative registrations, initiations on HAART, and total retained in care after one year at ARTC, RIMS, Srikakulam, AP, India. The number of total registered PLHIV in 2017-18 has come down to 738 from 823 in 2016-17 and points to success of continued efforts to reduce new infections, and, at the same period of study, there was a phenomenal increase in retained in care(alive and on treatment) after one year from 71.32%(587) to 87.94%(649) at ARTC. In spite of PLHIV lost to death remain almost same, the number of PLHIV Lost to Follow up (LFU) has reduced by almost half indicating better adherence at early initiation of drugs. Overall, a phenomenal increase in number of PLHIV who are retained in care and reductions in LFU after introduction of “TREAT ALL”, is a necessary boost to national program to combat the infection at much faster pace to eliminate the unnecessary evil from country as per SDGs.
Key words: Treat all, SDGs, HIV elimination, HAART, AIDS.
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