|
|
Stop TB-Fight poverty : An Indian Perspective
Tuberculosis in India: (3)
TB and HIV
The Prime Minister of India in his speech at a meeting on National Program for prevention and Control of HIV/AIDS on December 12th 1998, said," the health ministry puts the figure of HIV infections in the country as of now at three million to four million. In some states, the infection rate is one percent of the populations. Since we have these three to four million infections today from a base of just a few infections in 1986, imagine what the scene will be in another twelve years from the base now of three to four million. I shudder even to contemplate the numbers."
As per National AIDS Control Organisation estimates the total number of HIV infections in the country at the end of year 2000 stood at 3.86 million.
A document on Revised National TB Control Program (RNTCP) published on the official web site of the National TB Control Program
sums up the situation rather crudely: "while the size of the HIV epidemic in India is presently not known, it is clear that HIV will worsen the TB epidemic". The document makes no further reference to the problem
The Draft National AIDS Control Policy has only to say this much for the dual HIV-TB epidemic "with about 14 million TB cases existing in India, HIV/AIDS also poses a twin challenge of HIV/TB co-infection. Nearly 60% of the AIDS cases are reported to be opportunistic TB infection cases. Treatment of TB among the HIV-infected persons is a new challenge to the National TB Control Programme, which has now adopted DOTS strategy for control of TB infection. At the same time looking for HIV among TB infected persons will also cause the problem of scaring away of a large number of TB infected cases in the country from seeking treatment under the DOTS strategy. There is no risk of any TB patient getting infected with HIV unless he or she practices high risk behavior or gets infected from transfusion of HIV-infected blood." The draft policy document makes no further reference to meeting of two programs (National AIDS Control Program and Revised National TB Control Program) to meet the twin challenge.
There is no reliable data available to determine how the HIV prevalence has affected the TB epidemic in India. There are only apprehensions and estimates. Even the NACO or RNTCP have not come out with any studies to document the linkage. The extent of collaboration (or lack of it) between the two programmes is reflected in the documents of two programmes available on their web sites.
On surface they appear to be two divergent lines, emanating from a common point but distancing from each other as they travel to states, districts and community health centers.
|
|
