P5.047 HIV/AIDS Prevention in The Slums of Delhi, India: Targeted Interventions

Abstract

India has been at the centre stage of global economic growth in the recent years. It has made an impact in urban India with visible signs; however, vast parts of metropolitan India still remain underdeveloped and impoverished. Large numbers of people live in difficult conditions and are deprived of basic healthcare in many urban quarters, especially the western suburbs of Delhi, which have large slum areas. These slums have a high percentage of migrant workers with low levels of awareness on HIV/AIDS. Although the HIV prevalence is low, yet in terms of individuals infected, the slums are home to a very large and rapidly growing number of people living with HIV. Cygnus Medicare, a newly emerging healthcare organisation dedicated to providing world class healthcare in resource-limited settings, has been working in Delhi and Haryana for last several years with a strong public health approach. It runs seven fully equipped hospitals where poor people are treated at subsidised rates and special programmes are held which focus on education of high risk groups, including commercial sex workers and migrant workers on HIV. STD Clinics are held on Sundays, benefitting over 12000 people in last 3 years. A large number of awareness camps and activities are organised. The entire medical team periodically goes through trainings and orientations focusing on education and prevention of HIV/AIDS. The organisation also has an outreach component of service delivery, through which remote slum areas are regularly visited by mobile medical vans to provide curative, diagnostic and educational services to the community. The response and acceptance to the programme so far has been very positive. Over the last three years, there has been a large increase in the number of people attending the clinics and camps.