Pics: Brijesh Garodi
Daijiworld Media Network—Mangalore
Mangalore, Feb 16: The department of community medicine, Fr Muller Medical College Hospital, organized a CME on ‘Recent Advances in HIV/AIDS Management—Achieving Zero Incidence’, on Saturday February 15 from at Decennial Memorial Hall.
The chief guest of the inaugural function was Dr H S Shivakumar, District Health and Family Welfare Officer, Dakshina Kannada District. Fr Patrick Rodrigues, director, Fr Muller Charitable Institutions presided over the function.
Dr Ramachandra Kamath, observer from Karnataka Medical Council, Fr Rudolph Ravi D’Sa , administrator, Fr Muller Medical College, and Dr Das Acharya, organizing secretary, were the dignitaries on the dais.
Dr Shivakumar, while addressing the gathering, said, “Several measures have been taken by the government, NGOs, and other private organizations to prevent this deadly disease. But we still have the responsibility of providing more HIV and AIDS programmes, health education, and palliative care to ensure that individuals and communities have the knowledge and resources to lead healthy lives.”
Dr Acharya said, “HIV and AIDS is a major public health problem. As many as 2.4 million people are HIV/ AIDS victims, of which 60 percent are male and 40 percent are females. As many as 10 percent of people still don’t receive proper care due to lack of drugs, stigma, and discrimination.” He added, "Antiretroviral therapy prevents transmission of this deadly disease.”
Fr Patrick Rodrigues, said, “HIV and AIDS is a disease that has targeted humanity and placed a challenge before the community.” He added, “Substantial advances have been made in addressing the disease. The three major areas covered are HIV prevention research, treatment and care research and vaccine research.” He said that the doctors of the community medicine should bring about a behavioral change. “They should educate the public on how to control the disease and also improve the quality of life of the infected people,” added Fr Rodrigues.
The CME will focus on prevention, treatment, and clinical research on AIDS and HIV.