SHILLONG: Meghalaya is one of the states in India that has witnessed sharp rise in HIV cases, a health official informed.
“The adult HIV prevalence rate in Meghalaya is 0.42 percent which is higher than the national average which stands at .21 percent,” project director of Meghalaya AIDS control society – B Decruse said.
Decruse said: “An estimated number of people living with HIV is 8692, out of those 4996 know their status, 3718 are on Antiretroviral Treatment (ART) 2356 are virally suppressed.”
Meghalaya principal secretary for health and family welfare – Sampath Kumar said: “We need to be proactive in our support to bring change in attitude towards HIV and people living with HIV.”
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“Issues and challenges related to stigma and discrimination must be addressed by all communities to ensure equality,” Kumar added.
Expressing concern over teenage pregnancy in Meghalaya and youth being at the risk of being infected with HIV, Kumar urged all communities to create more awareness to safeguard the youths from HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.
