HIV among high risk groups falling in Manipur

IMPHAL, Sept 27 – HIV/AIDS prevalence rate among the high-risk groups like Intravenous Drug Users (IDU), Men having sex with Men (MSM) and Female Sex Workers (FSW) has come down in Manipur during the last one decade.

Officials of the Manipur State AIDS Control Society (MSACS) claimed this during a State-level workshop on HIV/AIDS for media persons here recently.

Dr Kh Pramodkumar, Project Director (Technical) said, the prevalence rate among IDUs has been reduced from 70 per cent to 17.9 per cent in the last one decade. Likewise, such trend is also seen in other high risk groups, he cliamed.

However, HIV/AIDS being a very complex epidemic on it’s dynamics, infection rate among the pregnant mothers is comparatively increasing in Manipur Hills though it has decreased in the Valley districts, he said.

But the prevailing infection rate among the FSWs and MSMs are not encouraging as the prevalence rate among these groups is slowly rising in Churachandpur and Imphal West districts.

According to MSACS’s latest sentinel surveillance reports, Manipur with as many as 25,655 HIV positive cases, has become the second Indian State having very high HIV prevalence among female sex workers (12.9 per cent) after Maharashtra (17.91 per cent). In 2006, the prevalence rate was just 11.6 per cent. Similarly, the prevalence rate of MSM in 2006 was only 12.4 per cent but it reached 16.4 per cent in the following year.

Project Director Pradeep Kumar Jha of MSACS said getting HIV/AIDS does not mean it is the end of life. He also sought support from the media while covering 80 per cent of the State’s population under National AIDS Control Programme III which is being implemented in the region.

In this new programme, National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) is trying to focus more on the district level activities than the State by instituting district AIDS control units.

Such district units were formed in Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland as the epidemic continues unabated in these States. But some NGO leaders and media persons demanded immediate review of the 13 year-old State AIDS policy to accommodate the present requirements.

MSACS officials confirmed the receipt of a recommendation by a review committee.