Medics take measures to check ‘aids’ rise in Sri Lanka

A seminar on AIDS awareness, held at Vijeyapura Health Training Center in Anuradhapura, was organised by the North Central Province AIDS prevention committee. The picture shows a cross-section of the participants at the event  

• As many as 148 AIDS infected patients had been reported to date from Anuradhapura District
• The seminar on aids awareness, held at Vijeyapua Health Training Center in Anuradhapura, had been organised by the North Central Province AIDS prevention committee

The object of the seminar was to implement an effective plan to eradicate the terminal disease from the NCP by 2030 

The rate at which patients contract AIDS in the county has been increasing by 0.1% and the number of identified patients would be about 4700 by 2025 as forecast by the health authorities.

Head of the National Sexually Transmitted Diseases and AIDS Prevention Programme Medical Specialist Dr. Vindya Kumarapeli said on Monday (October 21) during a seminar in Anuradhapura that statistics highlight that 3409 AIDS infected patients have been identified to date and that there could be more who are not identified.
The seminar on aids awareness, held at Vijeyapura Health Training Center in Anuradhapura, had been organised by the North Central Province AIDS prevention committee. The object of the seminar was to implement an effective plan to eradicate the terminal disease from the NCP by 2030.

“The first HIV infected individual had been reported from the country in 1987. The rate of increase in aids patients in Sri Lanka is minute due to the public awareness programmes and effective methods of identifying patients implemented by the health sector. More than one million individuals are subjected to laboratory tests to identify patients infected with aids”

Dr. Vindya Kumarapeli, Medical Specialist and Head of National Sexually Transmitted Diseases and AIDS Prevention Programme

“At present 110 patients including 27 women are undergoing treatment and another 21 have died.  More than 120,000 condoms are distributed per year in the district for use in safer sexual relations,”- Dr. Ajith Karavita, Medical Specialist in Charge of Sexually Transmitted Diseases and AIDS Prevention Unit in Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital

“The first HIV infected individual had been reported from the country in 1987. The rate of increase in aids patients in Sri Lanka is minute due to the public awareness programmes and effective methods of identifying patients implemented by the health sector.  Homosexual relations is one of the major cause of contracting the disease. It spreads through sex workers, beach boys and drug addicts injecting intoxicants as well. More than one million individuals are subjected to laboratory tests to identify patients infected with aids,” Dr. Mrs.Kumarapeli further said. 
Medical Specialist in Charge of Sexually Transmitted Diseases and AIDS Prevention Unit in Anuradhapura Teaching hospital Dr. Ajith Karavita said that 148 AIDS infected patients had been reported to date from Anuradhapura District. He said that the first aids positive patient was reported from the Anuradhapura District in 2002..  More than 120,000 condoms are distributed per year in the district for use in safer sexual relations,” Dr. Karavita said.

“At present 110 patients including 27 women are undergoing treatment and another 21 have died
Provincial Director of Health Services Dr. Palitha Bandara, and a group of medical officers of the National AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases Prevention Programme were also present at the occasion.