HYDERABAD:Telangana continues to fare poor in dealing with HIV AIDS though it has made considerable progress over the last seven years. According to recent estimates, about 14.6 per cent of AIDS-related deaths reported in India in 2017 are from Telangana -- that is 10,157 deaths. The country saw around 87,580 new HIV infections and 69,110 AIDS related deaths during the same period, says ‘India HIV Estimations-2017’ report.
As per UNAIDS 2018 report, the global average for decline in AIDS related deaths from peak has been 51 per-cent. Besides the deaths, the State stood in fourth position in case of adult (15 to 49-years) prevalence of HIV with 0.70 per-cent, that’s 2,03,723 People Living with HIV (PLHIV) in the State. Andhra Pradesh, meanwhile, is in the second position in this category with 2,70,000 PLHIV. According to the report, around 21,40,000 PLHIV live in India, and adult prevalence is 0.22 per-cent Together, Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and the two Telugu States contributed around three-fourth of the total number of PLHIV in the country. Director of Telangana State AIDS Control Society Dr Preeti Meena said that they have been putting in efforts to bring down the incidence and deaths arising out of HIV.
“Awareness and education are important tools to decrease the incidence or the deaths. We organise HIV awareness day and sessions for college students. And those who are HIV positive are given medicines free of cost. In case of high risk groups, we operate through NGOs,” Dr Preeti Meena said.
In the HIV Estimations-2017 report, it was stated that incidence of the disease continues to be higher in female sex workers (FSW), men who have sex with men (MSM), injecting drug users (IDU), hijra or transgenders, and that the increased focus on the high risk groups is required to achieve 2020 target of 75 per-cent reduction in new HIV infections.
The TSACS director said that around 60,000 people belonging to the high-risk groups are registered with community-based NGOs and they implement the disease prevention, such as distribution of condoms, and treatment programme through the organisations.