Social inequality, AIDS, pandemics are interrelated: Union Health Secretary

Social inequality, AIDS and pandemics are interrelated, said Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan here on Wednesday.

While speaking on World AIDS Day on the theme "End Inequalities, End AIDS, End Pandemics", Bhushan said, "Because there is inequality in the society, there is spread of diseases and because there is a disease, inequalities exist in the society. They are interrelated. If we reduce the inequalities in the society, access to healthcare, means to social and economic livelihood increases and thereby severity of disease decreases."

"If there is the easy availability of medicines, testing and counselling then we can control the spread of disease," he said.

"We should not forget that we have covered a very long journey. The National AIDS Control programme started in the country in 1992, at that time the efforts were in their infancy. Today, the programme's structure has taken deep roots," said the senior bureaucrat.

"Today we have over 34,000 testing centres, over 1,900 antiretroviral treatment centres & over 1,400 targeted interventions going on in the country. They have an impact on more than 4 million high-risk groups & target populations," said the Union health secretary.

Bhushan added, "We should not only fight HIV/AIDS but also end the epidemic by 2030."

( With inputs from ANI )

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