India’s first LGBTQ clinic and HIV treatment centre inaugurated in Mumbai

India’s first integrated community-based HIV treatment centre and clinic for LGBTQ has recently inaugurated at Humsafar Trust’s office in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The centre is supported by the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) and Family Health International 360. The centre will give free counselling and provide Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART). ART is the use of HIV medicines to treat the infection, and is recommended for everyone who is infected with virus and delays the progression of the disease. The centre will not only facilitate access to treatment among the most-at-risk communities, including transgenders and sex workers, but also provide the free HIV medications distributed by NACO. The acronym ‘LGBTQ’ stands for – Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer.