HT Correspondent
Dimapur, July 20: The statewide integrated STI, HIV, TB and hepatitis (ISHTH) campaign in prisons and other closed settings was launched in the office of the director of prison (headquarters) in Kohima on Thursday. There are seven prisons across the state which started the campaign from Thursday.
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Elaborating on the campaign, Dr Bernice D Thapru, joint director (prevention), Nagaland State AIDS Control Society, said the intensive campaign has been necessitated nationally because of the prevailing HIV epidemic in prisons and closed settings in India. She pointed out that Nagaland ranks third in HIV prevalence rate in the country.
Thapru said the campaign will focus on comprehensive health camps which will include basic testing. Health camps will be organised during the campaign where medical teams will conduct general health check-ups and major screening tests for HIV, syphilis, TB and hepatitis (B and C).
She said the campaign will also focus on post linkages for treatment of all clients who have been confirmed with such diseases.
The campaign will also cover other closed settings which include social welfare facilities like Ujjwala Home, Sakhi One Stop Centre, etc., run by private parties or the government, she said.
Thapru added that the campaign will be evaluated by Niti Aayog through an app and that the reporting about clients will be done for monitoring purposes without disclosing their private information.
The campaign is mainly to find the intensity of the problem of the HIV epidemic and to strategise on interventions in order to not leave out this particular group of population, she said.
In his address, director general (prison) Renchamo P Kikon stressed that there is a need for a holistic approach to tackle such diseases, particularly HIV. He said sustained efforts to make such campaigns a success are required to bring significant changes among the inmates and prisoners.
“The prisons should be reformative institutions for them,” he said.
Kikon underlined the need to sensitise not only the prison officials but also the officials of other departments such as social and welfare and medical departments about the campaign.
Emphasising on training and capacity building of all the officials, he said until and unless they are aware of what the campaign is about, they will not be able to convince the inmates to come forward. He also requested the departments concerned to help increase the number of pharmacies in the prisons.
He released information, education and communication materials for the ISHTH campaign and also launched the health camp at the Kohima district jail.
