Maharashtra has most new AIDS cases in India

April 12, 2010

Apr 12, 2010, MUMBAI: " A true AIDS epidemic is not a future possibility for

Maharashtra; it is a present reality " , warns a pamphlet brought out by an NGO

fighting against the spread of HIV.

And this is not an alarmist tirade. In the last three years, Maharashtra has

registered the largest number of new AIDS cases in India. The 98,578 fresh cases

registered in the state since 2007 make up 23%—almost a quarter—of the 4,19,982

AIDS patients registered across the country.

Maharashtra was one of the earliest states in India where the disease manifested

itself, registering its first AIDS case in Mumbai, in 1986. Lack of awareness, a

large migrant population and a thriving sex trade have made it extremely

difficult to combat the spread of HIV in the state. The National Aids Control

Organisation (NACO) has drawn up a list of 49 districts in India with a " high

prevalence " of HIV/AIDS, of which 14 are in Maharashtra.

According to a study conducted by Population Foundation of India, a Delhi-based

NGO funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, workers in the hotel and

tourism industry had the highest HIV prevalence among groups tested in the

state, followed by drivers and the unemployed. Truck drivers, who travel long

distances, brought the infection with them, often to areas where the disease had

not yet penetrated.

What is worrying is that in Maharashtra, HIV is not confined to high-risk groups

such as sex workers, but has entered the general population. Moreover, the

disease is no longer an urban phenomenon, but has spread to rural areas as well.

Now, even places like Latur, Jalgaon, Chandrapur and Sangli fall under NACO's

list of " high prevalence " districts.

Experts say this is because " bridge groups " contribute to the spread of the

virus, referring to husbands who use the services of sex workers and then infect

their wives with HIV, who in turn pass on the infection to their babies.

Since 2007, 10,371 persons have succumbed to the disease in Maharashtra, second

only to Andhra Pradesh, where 12,879 people have died due to AIDS.

Public health experts say the disease can only be fought through proper

counseling, awareness-raising measures, and accurate testing.

J J Hospital in Byculla is one of 10 centres of excellence that are battling the

advent of AIDS in India. And Maharashtra has 30 anti-retroviral treatment

centres—the most in the country.

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