Bengaluru: As many as 27 districts in the state have been identified as high-priority districts for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) prevalence, said Dr Rakesh Gupta, Additional Secretary of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Director General of the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO).
Speaking at the Suraksha Sankalp Workshop here, Dr Rakesh Gupta said, "HIV prevalence in the state is 0.44%, which is higher than the national average of 0.2%. Approximately 2.91 lakh people are living with HIV infection in the state".
While Uttara Kannada, Udupi, Koppal and Mandya have achieved the first '95' target, Raichur and Chamarajanagar districts have achieved the second '95' target, he said. 95-95-95 is a target in HIV eradication where 95% of HIV-positive individuals know their status, 95% of those diagnosed are on treatment, and 95% of those patients achieve viral suppression.
Under Mission AIDS Suraksha, India aims to achieve HIV control by World AIDS Day on December 1, 2027, he said.
World AIDS Day: HIV prevalence in Mysuru district stands at 0.4%"As many as 219 priority districts with high HIV impact and infection rates have been identified across the country based on the rate of infection, prevalence, disease load and high-risk groups," said
Dr Rakesh Gupta.
Speaking at the same event, Harsh Gupta, principal secretary to the department of health and family welfare, said, "HIV control programmes in the state have been given a new form. The objective is to achieve significant results within the next six months. Instead of running counselling and treatment systems separately, there is a need to integrate them with each other to provide seamless service to patients. The districts have been divided into three levels. Special attention will be given to 'tier-3' districts with low performance and instructions have been given to quickly rectify data reconciliation or structural issues," he added.