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Wednesday, November 12, 2008

First we should educate Indian society about HIV & AIDS.We should tell about various modes of transmission.People should understand that sex is not the only way of transmission .

Though it is difficult to implement this immediately,it may be possible after a few years.As a doctor,I have seen many innocent youngsters getting this infection from partner without any mistake on their part.
It can be done as a routine screening test for students during last year of college graduation.But there are some problems.HIV can remain undetected during initial few months - up to 6 months or more-.This is called as "window period".So even if the test done during last year of graduation comes as negative that is not a guarantee that a person doesn't have infection.Another thing- Tridot test is a good screening test but not confirmatory.ELISA is also not confirmatory.All literature which is available,suggeste that it should be confirmed by "Western Blot" test
The attitude of society - how society thinks about a HIV +ve person should be changed.
Though some people have mentioned that it is not possible to make it mandatory before marriage,I strongly support making it compulsory before marriage.After all,its a matter of 2 families,2 lives & in future the children born to such couple will also get this infection.So in this scenario,we should use our brain & not heart or emotions.Without bothering what others will feel,"Premarital HIV screening should be made mandatory.This will be an important step in moving towards a healthy nation.
HIV counselling is available in all good hospitals nowadays.So after counselling & with consent ,test should be done.We should think of longterm effects on family members if someone gets HIV.HIV treatment is very costly & causes a lot of financial stress on other family members as a person with HIV most of the times remains sick due to opportunistic infections & will not be able to work very efficiently.
"Prevention is always better than cure".This is the basic rule of medical science.We should not forget this.Rather than repenting & crying later , we should try to concentrate on prevention.Preventive medicine is getting importance in all diseases like heart diseases,etc
Rather than spending time in matching "Janam-kundalis" ,both families should go for such tests.This is the need of the time especially when health authorities have warned regarding the speed of HIV spread in India.
Because of co-education,call centres, girls & boys are coming closer.This relationship may progress into sexual relationship.Pub culture is also there.So HIV is spreading. Use of condoms should be promoted. Various types of condoms are available which don't interfere with sexual pleasure ( lubricated condoms, scented condoms, ultrathin condoms)

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