HIV screening test for pregnant women in Odisha district

Berhampur: As per a recent announcement, the HIV screening test for pregnant women will be done at the village level in Ganjam district, having the highest number of AIDS cases in Odisha.

The primary screening of the HIV will be conducted by the Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANM) at the sub-centres along with some other tests on the Village Health Nutrition Day (VHND), popularly known as 'Mamata Day' on Tuesday and Friday every week.

The main objective of the programme of 'HIV and Syphilis Screening of Pregnant Women at VHND' is to prevent transmission of AIDS from mother to child, said Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) of Ganjam Sadananda Mishra.

The programme would be launched in all 460 ANM sub-centres across the district on next Tuesday, he said.

The ANMs have been trained in the screening of HIV to pregnant women who would visit the sub-centres. If they find any suspected case after preliminary screening, she will be referred to the Integrated Counselling and Testing Centre (ICTC) in the district for the final test, he said.

As many as 28 ICTCs are functioning in the district in all Community Health Centres (CHC), the district headquarters hospital, MKCG Medical College and Hospital and a private hospital.

Presently the test of HIV for pregnant women is done at primary health centres and community health centres said district project manager (AIDS Control) Hemant Kumar Das.