National AIDS Control Organisation - National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme, India: Should they go hand in hand?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18889012Keywords:
HIV, NACO, NTEP, TBAbstract
Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) and human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) comprise the major burden of infectious disease in resource-limited countries. In the individual host, the two pathogens, Mycobacterium tuberculosis and HIV, potentiate one another, accelerating the deterioration of immunological functions. Aim: The aim of this study was to compare prevalence of HIV infection in two cohorts of patients: First, people who sought help on their own (client initiated) as well as those who were referred by a doctor or health care provider (provider initiated) coming to Sampoorna Suraksha Kendra (SSK). Second, Among all patients referred from National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP) and hence to assess whether linking of National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) with NTEP is a useful government policy or not. Co-morbidities among HIV positive patients were also studied. Methods: A seven-month (April 2024 to October 2024) document review was done on 6880 patients (including both client initiated as well as provider initiated) who came to SSK. These patients included 1072 patients referred from NTEP. Data analysis was done by using SPSS version 20 software. Results: HIV incidence among all 6880 screened patients in SSK was 0.97% (67patients). After excluding in-referrals from NTEP (1072 patients), 1.03% (60 patients)were HIV positive.Among 4S (cough, fever, weight loss and/or night sweats) symptomatic patients referred from NTEP (i.e. 1072 patients), 0.65% (7patients) were HIV positive. Although 13.2% (7 out of 53 patients) pulmonary TB positive patients which were referred from NTEP were also found to be HIV positive. Conclusion: In-referral of TB positive patients from NTEP for HIV screening is a useful government policy but referral of all patients (i.e. both TB positive and TB negative) from NTEP should be re-considered.
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