HIV/AIDS epidemic is rising alarmingly in Northeast. This has been revealed by the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) in its report.
The report stated that Manipur has the highest mortality rate per 1 lakh in India. The AIDS-related mortality in Manipur has been estimated to be 38.86, followed by Mizoram (28.34), Nagaland (26.20) and Meghalaya (11.08).
Joint Secretary to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Alok Saxena, in his observation, attached in the recent NACO report, said that HIV-infected people are more at COVID-19 death risk compared to HIV-negative patients.
According to reports, sharing of common syringes by drug users is one of the main reasons for Mizoram becoming one of the leading states with high HIV/AIDS mortality rate.
On the other hand, in another worrying development, there has been a rapid surge in the trend of Intravenous Drug Users (IDU) among the youths between the age group of 15 and 20 in several north-eastern states, especially in Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur and Nagaland.
Smuggling of drugs, arms and other contraband worth crores of Rupees are being reported frequently in the north-eastern States from across the borders, especially from Myanmar.
Drugs are being smuggled from Myanmar which shares 1,643 km of unfenced border with four north-eastern states — Mizoram (510 km), Arunachal Pradesh (520 km), Manipur (398 km) and Nagaland (215 km).
