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World AIDS\/HIV data shows that more than 77million people around the world have become infected with HIV since the epidemic emerged in the 1980s and that just under half, or 35.4million people, have died from AIDS -related illnesses. On World AIDS Day on December 1,2018 the theme “Know Your Status” was a message for most people. This means that though statistics are quite alarming, the real status could be known only if more people voluntarily take up blood tests. This has led to a dangerous situation in Russia and other former USSR countries where the situation is nearly out of control. There were more than 104,000 new HIV diagnoses in Russia in 2017, taking total cases to more than 1.2million, but the number of infected people is believed to be higher. The situation has concerned experts – who marked World Aids Day on Saturday – as Russia and Ukraine account for 75 per cent of all new infections in Europe amid a global decline. Russia faces an escalating crisis with a rate – 71.1 new infections per 100,000 people – that is more than 10 times that of Western Europe (6.4 infections per 100,000 people). Most new cases in the former Soviet Union in 2017 were from\u2028 heterosexual sex as the disease spreads beyond high-risk groups, according to research by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and\u2028 the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.\u2028The increased rate of new diagnoses in the region since 2012\u2028 comes amid a global decline. Nagaland health and family welfare (H&FW) minister, S Pangnyu Phom, at the World AIDS DAY programme in Kohima and also the chief patron, disclosed that 24,218 blood samples were tested positive out of the 10,76,631 blood samples tested from the year 1999 to September 2018 as per the data. Dimapur alone has accounted for 1588 new HIV infections in Nagaland in 2017 . Most shockingly, it has been recorded that there are around 60 to 90 new HIV cases reported in Dimapur every month and 91 percent of HIV transmission in the state is through unprotected sex. The states with with high HIV prevalence rates are- Manipur (1.40%), Andhra Pradesh (0.90%), Mizoram (0.81%), Nagaland (0.78%), Karnataka (0.63%) and Maharashtra (0.55%). It may be noted, that till sometime back, Mizoram did not figure among the states with high HIV prevalence and that could be due to under reporting. Nagaland and Manipur have high prevalence rates. The state which should be giving more emphasis on blood tests should be Assam. The state has been under reporting HIV cases and that itself poses a grave threat. Though most of these States have figures that are lower than the national prevalence rate, still some among them like Tripura and Sikkim have recorded a relatively steep climb. Awareness on HIV\/AIDS cannot be said to be insufficient though it should continue to be carried out. Health experts at the West African Centre for Cell Biology of infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP) have warned the trend of increasing cases of new HIV infections may not decline anytime soon. Head of monitoring and Evaluation at WACCBIP, Dr. Osbourne Quaye, said people refusing to take the test has contributed to the alarming increase because they unknowingly affect others with the virus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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