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The number of HIV-infected people in
India’s Dakshina Kannada (DK) district who visit antiretroviral therapy (ART)
treatment centers has increased by 35 percent since January, when the
Department of Health and Family Welfare and the Karnataka State AIDS Prevention
Society began reimbursing patients for travel to the centers.
According to DK District AIDS
Control Officer Dr. Kishore Kumar, approximately 1,600 patients have taken
advantage of the travel fare offer. Patients simply show proof of address at an
ART center, and an ART center officer immediately reimburses patients who have
traveled long distances 80 paise per kilometer; patients within the city
receive Rs 40 reimbursement. Caregivers for HIV-infected senior citizens and
children under 10 also receive travel fare.
Kumar stated that the department
started the program after learning from HIV-infected patients lost to treatment
that they quit because they could not afford the cost of travel to ART centers.
Stopping or missing ART can result in the HIV virus becoming resistant to
drugs, which can render the drugs ineffective in fighting HIV.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
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