NEW DELHI: Meghalaya has gone up from “epidemic prone” to “new hotspot” as far as HIV is concerned even when the dreaded disease is on a decline in many parts of the country, Health Ministry sources said.
There was an overall decrease in the number of persons diagnosed with AIDS in the country in the last three years, Union Minster for Health and Family Welfare J P Nadda has said. But three states – Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura – have emerged as “new hotspots” of HIV, Parliament was informed.
In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha recently, Nadda said the prevalence of the infection in the three northeastern states was due to “high risk behaviour” like intravenous drug users and unsafe sexual practices.
The high prevalence of HIV positive cases in Meghalaya pointed to an epidemic largely fuelled by intravenous drug use but also supported through commercial exchange of sex, said an earlier report by the Health Ministry.
Though the overall prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus in India has reduced according to the HIV Sentinel Surveillance 2016-2017, the report on northeastern states has raised concerns.
According to the data shared by the minister, 2,00,465 people were diagnosed with HIV in 2015-16, 1,93,195 in 2016-17 and 1,90,763 in 2017-18.
In all the three years, Maharashtra reported the maximum number of cases with 28,030 people diagnosed with HIV in the state in 2017-18.
For Mizoram, Meghalaya and Tripura, the government has identified the high HIV prevalence pockets affecting pregnant women and high-risk groups, according to the data.
Giving details of the steps taken up by the ministry, Nadda said under the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP), the government provides comprehensive package for prevention, counselling, testing and treatment services.
“This also includes free provision of anti-retroviral drugs, testing and treatment of opportunistic infections,” he said.
Moreover, NACP is fully funded by the Centre. “No country has offered its assistance in the treatment of AIDS but multilateral agencies like the World Bank, the Global Fund offer tier support,” Nadda added.
