Aids testing encouraged in India

People in southern India have been encouraged to get HIV/Aids tests by a health official.

According to Andhra Pradesh State Aids Control Society project director RV Chandravadan, there were 550,000 people living with HIV/Aids in the state.

In total 1,000 of these people lived in the Vizianagram district alone, he told a health meeting in the area.

Residents were urged to get tested at mobile vehicles which would drive out to more remote areas, the Hindu reported.

According to Mr Chandravadan, 1.5 million blood samples were taken last year at 675 state centres.

The government is embarking on plans to open sexually transmitted diseases clinics like a medical centre that was opened in the district to distribute HIV/Aids drugs last August.

A total of 2.5 million people are living with HIV/Aids in India, just under a third are children below the age of 14.

In other news, the Times of India reported more than 400,000 condoms donated to the country were expected to go out of date by March next year.

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