Maximum HIV+ drug addicts in Amritsar

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Maximum HIV+ drug addicts in Amritsar

Chitleen K Sethi

Tribune News Service/ Chandigarh, May 29

Amritsar district now has the highest number of HIV positive intravenous drug

users (IDUs) in the country. According to the latest figures released by the

National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), Amritsar has overshot Churchandpur

district of Manipur in this regard.

IDUs are among the high-risk groups contracting HIV. According to Sentinel

Surveillance and Estimation Report 2007, released recently by NACO, the national

average of HIV prevalence among IDUs is about 7.23 per cent, while in Amritsar

this has been found to be as high as 30.4 per cent. In Churchandpur it is about

28 per cent followed by Chennai (27.2 per cent) and Mumbai suburban (24.4 per

cent).

The revelation has rung alarm bells in the state, and officials of the Punjab

State AIDS Control Society are learnt to have briefed Minister of Health Laxmi

Kanta Chawla about the situation. Chawla is an MLA from Amritsar.

The incidence of IDUs in Amritsar is high mainly because of the easy

availability of injectable drugs in the border districts of Amritsar, Tarn Taran

and Gurdaspur.

Amritsar also has the highest incidence of HIV positive persons in the state.

Over 5,400 persons here have tested HIV positive. At Patiala, over 2,000 persons

are HIV positive and in Jalandhar the number is over 1,700. Ludhiana has almost

a 1,000 persons who are HIV positive followed by Gurdaspur, where over 600

persons have been found to be HIV positive.

According to the state AIDS Control Society, Punjab has over 15,000 HIV positive

persons (till April 2009). In all India perspective, this is over 11 per cent of

the total HIV positive population in the country.

" The figures, which we provide NACO for the compilation of data, do not include

the number of HIV patients in the high-risk groups. That figure will be added to

the final count from next year. The number of HIV positive persons is likely to

be double than what the figures say right now, " said Dr NM Sharma, additional

project director of the state AIDS Control Society.

According to the NACO report, the state-wise HIV prevalence among IDUs is

highest in Maharashtra at 24.4 per cent followed by Manipur (17.9 per cent),

Tamil Nadu (16.8 per cent), Punjab (13.8 per cent), Delhi (10.1 per cent) and

Chandigarh (8.6 per cent). Chandigarh the city has almost 450 registered HIV

positive persons.

Haryana is suspected to have over 42000 HIV positive persons with the disease

most prevalent among truckers, followed by commercial sex workers and

intravenous drug users.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20090530/main7.htm