Poorva Chavan
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Written By: Poorva Chavan | Published : December 1, 2014 5:45 PM IST
Addressing the nation on World AIDS Day, union health minister, J.P. Nadda, urged people to get involved in achieving the goal of zero new infections3 and deaths due to HIV/AIDS.
The number of new infections in India has come down by 57 percent and related deaths by 25 per cent in the last decade.
The minister also launched a new helpline number 1097, a digital resource centre and a supply chain management system for HIV patients. He also said that it is the responsibility of every individual to fight HIV, each one should be committed towards it and there should be no discrimination against people with HIV.
(Read: World AIDS Day 2014: Why is India facing shortage of anti-HIV drugs)
Emphasizing on the importance of self control and precaution, he said it was people s initiative to choose a proper life style. He also said that preventive health care is a new way forward and gone are the days when antibiotics could cure everything. We should be working on two fronts. We should be aware and put special emphasis on prevention and help those living with HIV and AIDS so that they face no discrimination , he said.
To establish better coordination in tackling HIV, the Minister has signed MoUs with 11 ministries and five more are in pipeline sources from the ministry said.
The country s efforts in battling AIDS and bringing down the number of cases is considered a success even as 2.6 billion people currently battle with the disease, the third highest number in the world.
(Read: World AIDS Day 2014: Why India is still struggling to get over this deadly disease)
Image source: Getty Images
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