Women's groups join hands to monitor antiretroviral drugs

Representatives of an NGO working for women and several sex workers' organisations have come together to develop a mechanism to monitor availability of antiretroviral therapy (ART) drugs and other essential medicines.
Representatives of NGO Positive Women's Network appealed to National Commission for Women (NCW) to facilitate dialogue and interaction with all concerned ministries, departments and agencies to scale up HIV prevention.
NCW chairperson Lalitha Kumaramangalam told the representatives that having worked on HIV/AIDS for many years she realised the importance of community involvement in the programme. "I will do my bit to broaden the dialogue between the government and community groups," she said.

P Kousalya, the NGO president, said other than pregnancy no other health concerns including reproductive health is addressed for women living with and vulnerable to HIV.
"Due to the lack of proper clinical, immunological and virological assessment to determine whether the ART medication is working or not, many HIV Positive women have succumbed to opportunistic infections. They find themselves battling the falling CD4 count as well as the host of other infections they contract," Kousalya said.
Sultana Beg, a member of All India Network of Sex Workers (INSW), requested NCW to recommend the government to scale up access to HIV viral load testing facility and make it available on routine basis for effective treatment and monitoring.

She said with viral load testing being conducted only with the recommendation of State AIDS Clinical Expert Panel (SACEP), it is very difficult to access it.