Dr. Girish Trivedi founder trustee of Aids Combat International started working for the welfare of HIV/AIDS patients from the year 2000. It’s an non political, non sectorial, non profit making organization working round the clock for HIV positive/AIDS patients in Mumbai, INDIA. ACI got registered in the year 2002 under the Bombay Public Trust Act. Reg: No: E –20263.

As a general practitioner Dr. Girish Trivedi started his clinic. The patient who used to come was HIV positive/AIDS. Looking at the need of the patients he started a Day Care Centre for HIV positive symptomatic patients giving support to the much needed and poor. Discrimination and stigma was very high, residents interfered in his work and forced him to close it.

He knew there were many in urgent need of care and support and due to there socio-economic status they couldn’t afford to go to big hospital. Even if they could support the treatment and pay money, due to discrimination and stigma they were afraid to go. Dr. Trivedi was aware of the fact that due to lack of awareness and discrimination these patients are going to die. The strong support of his wife and trustee Mrs. Mamta Trivedi they decided to adopt the “Home Based Care” system.

Thus, Aids Combat International was founded which specializes in the area Home Based Care and provide the much needed medical care and support. Awareness camps are organized at regular intervals. ACI also focuses on women and children; it provides free ART therapy to children below the age of 15 years old. Through Home Based Care – ACI has been providing medical care and support to more than 400 families in the areas of Malad, Kandivili, Goregaon, Borivili and nearby places.

Mission:

‘Rolling to effective HIV/AIDS treatment is the single activity that can most effectively energize and accelerate the update and impact of treatment. Its purpose is to support the health needs of people with HIV, both directly & indirectly’.

HIV patients are looking for more than just a slice of life. One of the things that has haunted this disease is that it is sexually transmitted and people are either not prepared to be honest about prevention or treat people with the virus like shit.

Objectives:

1. Home Based Care Treatment; Treatment of opportunistic infections and Antiretroviral Therapy.
2. Awareness; About HIV/ADIS amongst general public.
3. Free ARV Therapy for children.
4. Counseling: Pretest and Post-test.
5. HIV/AIDS workshops for Medico’s and Para medico’s.

Awareness:

Awareness about the diseases plays a very important role, especially in HIV infected & AIDS patients. Awareness is done to reduce social stigma, and discrimination. During the talks we stress more on the prevention aspect. ‘ Prevention is better than cure’, this should hit the mind of the common people. With one person getting infected every minute in our country, HIV/AIDS can become a major economy problem. As such 50% of the cases are in the young age group (between 20-45 yrs). Awareness amongst the youngster in also very important. They can bring a revolutionary change by creating awareness amongst all the classes in the society. Awareness done is not restricted only to risk prone population. Door to door awareness is the need of the hour. One of the important aspects in awareness is to create positivism in the mind of both the partners before marriage. They should come forward and do their HIV status (Voluntary testing) before getting married. It should be voluntary and not mandatory.

These topics are covered during awareness depending upon the audience.
• Basic information on HIV/AIDS transmission and how to prevent it;
• Basic comfort measures and nursing care for adults and children;
• Managing symptoms and administering medication;
• Use of traditional remedies;
• Universal precautions;
• Palliative care, including counseling terminally ill people, bereavement counseling and pain relief;
• Nutrition;
• Psychosocial support and counseling for ill people, caregivers, orphans, health and social welfare workers and volunteers;
• Training the trainers for continued in-service education; and
• Stress management and care for caregivers

Treatments:

Treatment at the day care center is given round the clock; Home Based Care consists of four interrelated elements;

1. Clinical Management, including early diagnosis and rational treatment of HIV related illnesses and follow-up care.
2. Nursing care to promote and maintain hygiene, nutrition and infection control, to provide palliative care and health education to home cares
3. Counseling, including social support to PHLA and their families, to reduce stress and anxiety, to promote positive living and risk reduction strategies and to empower individual to make informed choices for their futures.
4. Social support, including material assistance, information and referral, linking into support groups and services.

This approach depends on the prevailing needs of patients and the realities of health case provision. In making comparisons with the cost of outpatient’s services at hospitals, it should be noted that the home care figures include the costs of improving the emotional, education and social well bring of the patient.

This concept day care and home care of treatment has seen a steady growth of patient and we now see at least one new patient a day at our center. Till now we have seen more than 400 patients.