Wake-up call for UP districts

Over 140 cases of HIV-positive people have been reported from January till now by a surveillance centre and civil hospitals in two Uttar Pradesh districts, reports Pradeep Saxena.

Over 140 cases of HIV-positive people have been reported from January till now by a surveillance centre and civil hospitals in two Uttar Pradesh districts, reports Pradeep Saxena.

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Over 140 cases of HIV-positive people have been reported from January till now by a surveillance centre and civil hospitals in two Uttar Pradesh districts — Aligarh and Hathras. The surveillance centre had been established by the National AIDS Control Board in J.N. Medical College of Aligarh Muslim University.

Over 38 per cent of the HIV-positive people are women. Hathras’s Mursan village has the largest number of HIV-positive people. In Aligarh, 83 HIV cases have been detected from January. In Hathras, 58 people tested HIV-positive, according to the surveillance centre at the town’s Bagla Civil Hospital. Two have died in the course of the year.

Professor Dr Abida Malik, director of the surveillance centre, told HT that people living with HIV in Aligarh are mostly adults between 17 and 49 years. The major cause is unprotected paid sex.

Dr Anurag Rajvanshi, microbiologist with the Civil Hospital, Aligarh, said unauthorised blood banks and professional blood donors are also contributing to the spread of the disease.

Dr R.C. Chadda, chief medical officer, Aligarh, told HT that his department is proceeding with its AIDS awareness programme on a large scale in both urban and rural areas.