Karwar: The number of HIV infected in Uttara Kannada district has come down drastically due to awareness created among people and there is a hope that their number would decrease to zero in the coming days, said Senior Civil Judge N Santosh Kumar Shetti.

He was speaking after inaugurating the World AIDS Day programme jointly organised by the district administration, Zilla Panchayat, District Legal Services Authority, State AIDS Prevention Society, Health & Family Welfare Department, and various non-governmental organisations in Karwar on Wednesday. 

He said, HIV infection may be transmitted to children from infected pregnant women. Doctors and counsellors should treat HIV infected appropriately, he suggested.

District Health & Family Welfare Officer Sharad Nayak said, due to awareness created among people about the transmission of AIDS, the number of HIV infected has reduced. On the other hand, the spread of Covid-19 has not yet been stopped completely. Hence, people should be cautious and should follow the Covid guidelines such as wearing masks and maintaining social distance without fail and everyone should get the vaccine, he advised.   

Dr Mahabaleshwar Hegde also spoke on the occasion. The staff who played a vital role in checking the AIDS, were felicitated on the occasion. 

Dr Ramesh Rathod, Dr Preeti Bhandarkar, Dr Shivanand Nayak and others were present.