Representative Photo

MUMBAI: In a bid to change the negative attitude towards HIV testing, Mumbai District AIDS Control Society (MDACS) will offer free tests at six railway stations with maximum footfalls on December 1, World AIDS Day.

The test will be available for a week at Rs75 almost a fifth of the usual cost at 700 laboratories of the private Metropolis laboratory from December.

“We are focusing on normalising HIV testing,’’ said Dr Shrikala Acharya of MDACS ahead of World AIDS Day, whose theme is ‘Know your status’. If tests are easily available at public places for free or at affordable rates, testing may be seen as a socially accepted concept. “At present, if people are asked to undergo a test by their doctor or health worker, they will come up with an excuse or say this test is not for them as they are safe,’’ she said.

There are 38,000 people with the virus who have registered with MDACS in Mumbai city, but there is no corresponding estimate for the private sector so far.

MDACS will put up kiosks at CSTM, Dadar, Kurla, Andheri, Ghatkopar and Borivli stations to make the test easily accessible.

Experts admit that the stigma attached to HIV and AIDS is still high, preventing people from testing themselves, leading to a delay in the start of treatment. “We want to make testing a social movement. It should be a normal question to ask each other if one has undergone the HIV test,’’ she added.

MDACS will carry out social media campaigns with Marathi film and TV actors to promote HIV testing. “The idea is to create a social movement of sorts so that people forget the stigma attached to HIV testing,” she said.

