New Delhi: Two districts of Punjab and one district in Bihar have registered over 1000 or more new annual new infections (ANI) of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in 2023.
"An estimate of 1000 or more new infections was found in two districts of Punjab and one district in Bihar while another four in Bihar and three in Punjab have the estimated ANI in the range of 500 to 1000," revealed data from the Health Ministry in possession of ETV Bharat.
Taran Taran with 1508 and Amritsar with 1014 are the two districts in Punjab registering more than 1000 new HIV infections in Punjab whereas Muzaffarpur in Bihar registered 1347 annual new infections of HIV in 2023.
Andhra Pradesh (NTR), Delhi (South Delhi), Maharashtra (Mumbai Urban + Suburban), Mizoram (Aizawl), Uttar Pradesh (Azamgarh) and West Bengal (Kolkata) are the other states where one district in each state has new HIV infections in the range of 500 to less than 1000.
Punjab (16), Bihar (11) and Uttar Pradesh (6) are also the top three leading States where more than 200 annual new infections of HIV have been found in 2023.
The data released by the Health Ministry has revealed that 18 districts in Punjab, have been followed by 12 in Bihar, and 11 in Uttar Pradesh where more than 200 new HIV infections have been registered.
Similarly, eight districts in Maharashtra, six districts each in Delhi and Haryana, five districts each in Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan, four districts each in Gujarat and Telangana, three districts in Karnataka also reported over 200 new HIV infections in 20233.
In addition, the states of Assam, Chhattisgarh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Tripura and West Bengal have one to two districts with an estimated 200 or more new HIV infections
According to the data, the district-wise number of new HIV infections was estimated in the range of 50 to 1510 in 2023 with 344 districts collectively reporting 90 per cent of total new infections in India.
"An estimated ANI between 100 to less than 200 was noted in 104 districts representing 21% of the total ANI. It was estimated to be less than 100 infections in 74 per cent (563) of the total districts in the country which accounted for 25 per cent of the total ANI," the data revealed.
More than half (54 per cent) of total new infections were noted in the remaining 95 districts with each district having an estimate of 200 ANI or more. Among these 95 districts, with each district 3 have 1000 or more and another 13 have new infections in the range of 500 to 1000.
Estimation of the burden of the HIV epidemic is an integral part of the National AIDS and STD Control Program (NACP) to provide updated evidence on the status of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in India. The exercise of model-based HIV estimation is carried out by the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO).
"Government of India is currently implementing phase five of the NACP as a fully funded central sector scheme for the five-year period from 2021-22 to 2025-26 to combat the epidemic of HIV/AIDS. The annual HIV burden estimation is an institutionalized activity under the NACP aimed at updating the status of progress on key goals both in terms of magnitude and trends,” said V Hekali Zhimomi, Director General of the National Aids Control Organisation.
