GUWAHATI: Kamrup-Metro district in Assam recorded 8960 HIV-inflicted people followed by Cachar district with 5823 people.
This was informed by Assam health minister Keshab Mahanta in the state assembly.
Replying to a starred question from Congress MLA Sibamoni Borah during question hour of the House, the Assam health minister said that there are no HIV cases detected in South Salmara-Mankachar district till this day.
“Till now the state has recorded 31,729 HIV-positive cases of which 5,000 cases were detected this alone,” Assam health minister Keshab Mahanta said.
Of the cases, 3049 were detected in Nagaon district, 1736 in Dibrugarh, 1108 in Jorhat, 1063 in Karimganj, 959 in Sonitpur, 888 in Golaghat, 842 in Karbi Anglong, 706 in Barpeta, 702 in Tinsukia, 674 in Kamrup (Rural), 600 in Dhubri, 599 in Bongaigaon, 494 in Morigaon, 456 in Hojai, 420 in Sivasagar, 377 in Kokraajhar, 290 in Nalbari, 285 in Goalpara, 274 in Lakhimpur 252 in Darrang, 241 in Hailakandi, 200 in Dhemaji, 196 in Dima Hasao, 130 in West Karbi Anglong, 122 in Biswanath, 109 in Baksa, 84 in Udalguri, 71 in Chirang, 11 in Charaideo and 8 cases have been detected in Majuli district of Assam.
Assam State AIDS Control Society (ASACS), which has been working for the prevention of HIV/AIDS through different phases of the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) said that the number of HIV infections is on the rise in Assam.
However, Assam is an HIV low prevalence state (0.11%) when compared to the national prevalence which is 0.20%.
As per NACO HIV Estimation Report 2022, Assam has an estimated number of 30,067 HIV-positive cases in the state.
ASACS has taken various steps, especially amongst the High-Risk Groups (HRG) which include Injecting Drug Users (IDU), Female Sex Workers (FSW), Man Having Sex with Men (MSM), single male Migrant (SMM), Long Distance Truckers etc. Index Testing (contact or partner tracing of the clients who have tested positive) is being done amongst the high-risk and the general population who are at risk. The Index Testing of high-risk populations is done by the 52 Targeted TI NGOs across Assam.
There are 107 stand-alone Integrated Counseling and Testing Centres (ICTC) across the state in the HIV-vulnerable places of the state.
For HIV treatment, Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) Centres are located at Guwahati Medical College Hospital, Silchar Medical College Hospital, Assam Medical College Hospital (Dibrugarh), Fakhruddin Ali Medical College Hospital (Barpeta), Jorhat Medical College Hospital, Tezpur Medical College Hospital, Diphu Medical College Hospital, Swahid Kushal Konwar Civil Hospital, Golaghat and BP Civil Hospital, Nagaon. Besides, Anti-Retroviral Therapy Dispensation Centres are in six central jails Guwahati, Nagaon, Jorhat, and Tezpur.