Recently 116 peddlers arrested in Assam in action against HIV positive
GUWAHATI: A drug dealer arrested by the Assam Police during a massive operation under the Hemant Biswa Sarma government has turned out to be HIV positive, though health officials said he had contracted the infection before going to jail.
Assam State AIDS Control Society (ASACS) officials told TOI on Monday that 116 inmates in various jails in Assam have tested positive for HIV since April. Notably, 73.27 per cent of them, about 85 cases are in special jails and central jails, Nagaon, then seven in Morigaon and Nalbari districts, six in Cachar and Golaghat and Karbi Anglong jails. In Sivasagar, Jorhat and Darang jails, an inmate tested positive for HIV between April and September.
Ranjan Jyoti Deka, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, ASACS told TOI, citing a recent report by the Integrated Counseling and Testing Centre: A total of 4,495 prisoners were screened during this period.
Health checks have intensified over the years, though it started in 2017. That year Assam became the first state in the country to launch a prison intervention programme.
In many individuals, unsafe sexual behavior and the use of injectable drugs are considered to be the two leading causes of HIV infection. The National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) in its 2019 projected report said that the annual rate of HIV infection in Assam has declined by 22.7%.
However, detection of HIV among prisoners has provided an opportunity to stop the spread of the virus. “Inside the prison, we believe they cannot spread HIV. We have developed a mechanism to effectively suppress counterfeiting in anti-retroviral therapy (ART). Behavior. .
He said that at present the screening is going on in 22 district jails of Assam and more cases may be identified. “Our target is to make 95% of HIV infected people aware about their health status, otherwise they will continue to spread the infection,” Choudhary said.
In 2020-21, a total of 1,279 HIV positive cases were detected in Assam. There were 1,955 cases in 2019-20, 1,715 in 2018-19 and 1,586 in 2017-18. Health department sources said there was a decline in case identification last year as most of the technicians and consultants were engaged in the fight against Covid.
Recently 116 peddlers arrested in Assam in action against HIV positive
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by News East India staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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