World Aids Day - Tamilnadu and AIDS
India has the 2nd most cases of AIDS in the world
Tamil Nadu has the most number of AIDS cases in the country (52,036), followed by Andhra Pradesh (15,099), Maharashtra (14,325) and Mumbai (10,362). ...
It is alarming to realise that we are the state with the largest detected AIDS patients in this country. At times I think there are that many NGOs working on AIDS as the number of detected AIDS patients themselves in this state. Recently in a village I was told that there was a case of death due to AIDS, when queried further no one knew how it was known to be AIDS or what was the medical diagnosis through which this conclusion was arrived at. Our people long used to visual diagnostics have themselves cooked up some kind of visual diagnosis for this disease also!
Similarly, time and again I have been told by many rural 'quacks' that they have cured so and so of AIDS, again when pressed I couldn't get any clear answer except the fact that someone who had tested HIV positive earlier had after taking a certain concoction had been cured and showed negative in the test! Strange.
In a meeting of NGOs a few months back, I had queried about their methods of determining how many people suffer from AIDS. Many said that it was based on a projection based on the overall numbers given. This must be the first disease in which the grassroot worker will work derive more from the theoretical numbers that have been arrived elsewhere rather than what they see on the ground. Meanwhile, visual diagnosis and esoteric remedies continue.
Tamil Nadu has the most number of AIDS cases in the country (52,036), followed by Andhra Pradesh (15,099), Maharashtra (14,325) and Mumbai (10,362). ...
It is alarming to realise that we are the state with the largest detected AIDS patients in this country. At times I think there are that many NGOs working on AIDS as the number of detected AIDS patients themselves in this state. Recently in a village I was told that there was a case of death due to AIDS, when queried further no one knew how it was known to be AIDS or what was the medical diagnosis through which this conclusion was arrived at. Our people long used to visual diagnostics have themselves cooked up some kind of visual diagnosis for this disease also!
Similarly, time and again I have been told by many rural 'quacks' that they have cured so and so of AIDS, again when pressed I couldn't get any clear answer except the fact that someone who had tested HIV positive earlier had after taking a certain concoction had been cured and showed negative in the test! Strange.
In a meeting of NGOs a few months back, I had queried about their methods of determining how many people suffer from AIDS. Many said that it was based on a projection based on the overall numbers given. This must be the first disease in which the grassroot worker will work derive more from the theoretical numbers that have been arrived elsewhere rather than what they see on the ground. Meanwhile, visual diagnosis and esoteric remedies continue.
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