Minister of State, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India, S. P. Singh Baghel along with Assam Health Minister Keshab Mahanta, inaugurated the World AIDS Day event at Srimanta Sankaradeva International Auditorium, Guwahati, Assam.
The event was attended by more than 1500 people cutting across states, people living with HIV (PLHIV) communities, NGOs, CSOs, development partners and youth. Also present at the event were Avinash Joshi, Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Assam, Nidhi Kesarwani, IAS, Director, NACO, David Bridger, UNAIDS, Country Director, and all Deputy Director Generals from NACO.
Aligning with the theme of World AIDS Day 2023 ‘Let Communities Lead’, Baghel emphasized on the programme’s seamless and continuous effort in the generation of evidences to assess its impact and other initiatives in a rigorous technical and scientific manner. The Government of India has engaged communities in advocacy and providing services, awareness and counselling to promote safe behaviours, promote community-based testing, income-generation opportunities and linking their peers with social protection schemes. “The HIV Estimates 2022 and the Sankalak report released today is a stepping stone towards disease burden estimation in India; this is intrinsic to aid accurate, consistent and meaningful health policies and programmes”, he added. The Minister also shared his contentment towards the adoption of new age Communication strategies by NACO and SACS to create awareness and to decrease stigma and discrimination among general population
