Four states in south India make up 50% of HIV cases

December 1, 2014

AidsCoimbatore, Dec 1: Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka account for 3.6 lakh HIV cases, about 50% of the patients in the country. The southern states are also among the top four in the country, with Tamil Nadu alone having 80,685 HIV affected people of the total 7.7 lakh as on May 2014.

Andhra Pradesh (including Telengana) tops the list with 1.7 lakh HIV affected people, followed by Maharashtra with 1.43 lakh people. Karnataka has just over one lakh people with HIV, according to the Union ministry of health and family welfare. These are the only states with more than one lakh people with HIV.

After Tamil Nadu's 80,000-odd cases, Gujarat is listed with 40,121 cases. States such as Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, which are larger both in area and population, have not recorded many cases.

The rising numbers in the southern states are attributed to efficient screening over the last few years, said experts.

"The southern states have taken AIDS awareness and prevention very seriously in the last five years. The state governments along with non-governmental organizations have ensured compulsory screening up to the village level, which has resulting in better documentation and recording of HIV cases," said Vijay Raman, deputy director of Voluntary Health Services, a non-profit multi-specialty hospital in Tamil Nadu.

Though the cumulative numbers are high in the south, the number of fresh cases being recorded every year has dropped significantly since 2010. According to the health ministry, the total number new cases has reduced almost 50% across the country in three years—from 3.1 lakh fresh cases in 2010-11 to 1.5 lakh cases in 2013-14. Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka also saw a sharp fall in the number of fresh cases reported every year.

The drop in the number of fresh cases is due to the increasing awareness among the public, especially the risk-prone communities of sex workers, homosexuals and transgenders, said Bakthavatchalam A, deputy director of Association for Rural Mass India, a non-profit organization working in the health sector.

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Agencies
March 6,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 6: A 12-member team from Telangana on Friday visited Kerala to study how the state contained the spread of novel coronavirus.

Interacting with the team, Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja said, "The team will be given a presentation at National Health Mission and they will visit Alappuzha district to know how the health facilities are set up by Kerala Health Department on the grassroots level."

"The team comprising doctors and senior health officials will visit the control room set up by the Health Department and also will attend daily review meetings. They will also visit an isolation ward in the hospital and interact with doctors and nurses, " the minister said.

She added, "Kerala model is being followed by other states too. All states are working together and the country as a whole is fighting the coronavirus. They are sharing our experience. All of India is standing together. Contact tracing and isolation is the most important part."

Dr Mahaboob Khan, part of the Telangana team told media persons, that the discussion with the health minister was fruitful.

"Kerala was the first state in India where a positive coronavirus case was reported. All three positive cases reported have been discharged after testing negative. So we wanted to study how Kerala was able to contain it and the health system in place here, " he said.

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News Network
May 24,2020

New Delhi, May 24: Overwhelmed by the donations that poured in from the society for his help, Phool Mia, the fruit seller in north Delhi's Jagatpuri area whose mangoes were looted by the ordinary people, said that those who helped him have made his "Eid" and have shown that "humanity is still alive".

Video footage that went viral on social media, shows that scores of passers-by looted the unattended crates of mangoes of a fruit seller after a fight broke out in the neighbourhood. The incident took place on Wednesday.

"My stock of mangoes worth Rs 30,000 was kept there. Some persons were fighting with each other fearing which I left the place to avoid any sort of altercation. When I returned, I saw that they were looting the mangoes kept there. There were 50-100 people who were involved in this act," Phool Mia, narrated the ordeal.

"A video got viral about the incident after which people donated to me on a portal. They empathised with me when I was ruined. I thank the media and all those people who have donated from the bottom of my heart as they made my Eid. Now, I would be able to celebrate Eid with my children. This shows humanity is still alive," he added.

However, four people have been arrested on the basis of video footage, Delhi Police said.

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News Network
August 7,2020

New Delhi, Aug 7: The Congress on Thursday demanded the removal of Karnataka minister KS Eshwarappa from the cabinet and his arrest for his statement that grand Krishna and Vishwanath temples would come up in Mathura and Kashi respectively after "liberating" them.

Mr Eshwarappa made the statement while reacting to Prime Minister Narendra Modi laying the foundation of the Ram temple in Ayodhya yesterday.

"By asking kar sevaks (volunteers) to launch a similar campaign, the minister (Eshwarappa) is trying to disturb peace in the society," Congress Karnataka unit chief DK Shivakumar said at a press conference in Ballari today.

"Such people should be arrested immediately, police officials should register a case against him and the Chief Minister should remove him from the cabinet,"he said.

Rural Development and Panchayat Raj minister Eshwarappa had said on Wednesday that he was of the firm opinion that "if not today, tomorrow, Mathura and Kashi temples will be liberated and grand temples would be built there."

"A place of devotion has to be built in both Kashi and Mathura. There too, grand temples have to be constructed. The mosques have to be removed from there," he said.

Mr Eshwarappa, a former BJP state president, said the centres of Hindu belief, Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura were a kind of a symbol of "slavery" as "temples of our Rama, Krishna and Vishwanath were destroyed and mosques built."

Stating that Mr Eshwarappa is not an individual but a minister who represents the government, Mr Shivakumar on Thursday sought to know from the Chief Minister whether this was his government's stand.

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