The World AIDS Day – Time to THINK ABOUT LIFE, BEYOND AIDS!

Represented by the symbol of a red ribbon, World AIDS Day denotes the safety of people living and dealing with AIDS. Every year 1st of December is dedicated to this awareness campaign with a defined theme in order to battle against this dreadful and Infectious disease called HIV/ AIDS.

Continuing with the tradition, this year again, WHO has come up with an inspirational slogan, ‘Everybody counts’, keeping the public health in mind and thereby supporting the sustainable development goals and the cherished aim of arresting the spread of AIDS. WHO has emphasized that every individual has the right to health. This right ensures quality health care services to people in need and accessibility to quality medicines that are affordable and effective. The right to health also protects people from financial risks and provides easy access to health commodities and diagnostics.

According to the statistics, 36 million people are already suffering from HIV worldwide, with most of them being unaware of the virus that lives in their bodies. AIDS has already abducted 0.8% of the adults’ population and 37 million people are estimated to have been killed by the tyranny of this disease.

HIV is caused when our immune system is attacked by a virus that destroys white blood cells (immune defence mechanism) of our body. And when these cells are destroyed in ample amount, the body loses the capacity to defend itself from the infection. At this stage, HIV turns into AIDS (Acute Immunodeficiency Syndrome) which is life-threatening.

Early detection of this virus can save so many lives but what actually needed is its awareness. People must be aware of the symptoms that are early signs of this disease, like – swollen lymph nodes, sore throat, fever, joint and muscle aches. Someone experiencing these symptoms must immediately undergo an ELISA test which tells if the person is HIV positive or not, subsequently followed by a WESTERN BLOT test if the HIV test turns out to be positive.

HIV, when detected at an early stage, is treated by an antiretroviral therapy / ART that slows down the speed with which these virus cells multiply and doctors recommend this treatment to be taken at the earliest to control this speedily multiplying deadly virus.

Our health is our responsibility and one must pay attention to the changes and signals that our body emanates when suffering from a disease. We should be actively dedicated to what precautionary and preventive measures we must take in order to protect ourselves from this contagious disease. Moreover, people who are already dealing with this appalling affliction must be well aware of their rights to fight against this disease.

Shalby Hospitals dedicates this World AIDS Day for spreading awareness about HIV/AIDS and acknowledges the rights of HIV patients in getting high standards of healthcare services and social rehabilitation. The proficient team of doctors at Shalby Hospitals work dedicatedly towards meeting up the challenges faced in controlling and eradicating HIV/AIDS from the roots, though possible only in a phased manner.