In what could be seen as a favourable trend, Odisha has apparently witnessed a significant fall in HIV positive cases among the pregnant women or Ante-Natal Clinic (ANC) attendees till October this year.
The indicator is considered significant as HIV prevalence among ANC attendees also hints at the enormity of AIDS grip on general population in a State or at district level.
According to an analysis of data available with the Odisha State AIDS Control Society (OSACS) and State Health Department, the HIV positive cases among pregnant females in State have dipped to around 0.1 per cent till October this year against 0.31 per cent in 2012-13.
However, the proportion of HIV positives among non-pregnant females that included female sex workers stood at a high of around 0.9 per cent. Similarly, of every 1,000 HIV tests undergone by males, six were tested positive till October this year. There seems to be no rapid change in overall HIV positives last year and this year as overall HIV positives to total tested remained unchanged at 0.4 per cent. Prevalence is not uniform across the State. Some blips are observed on the prevalence radar. Jajpur is the only district in the State where over 1 per cent of the total females tested were detected as HIV carriers. Significantly, State headquarters Khurda has recorded 200 per cent rise among males this year as six in every 1,000 tested positive against two per 1,000 in 2014-15 and a 100 per cent rise among females observed. Gajapati district has recorded a marginal rise in HIV positives among males this year vis-a-vis last year. Overall, Nabarangpur district topped the State with around nine in 1,000 testing HIV positive this year against 1.1 per cent last year. Odisha has four problematic districts as far as HIV is concerned. Gajapati, Ganjam, Malkangiri and Nabarangpur are the four districts where over 1 per cent of total males tested were detected as HIV positives this year.
Though the State has diagnosed around 940 new HIV positives this year till October, on an average around 3,500 new positive cases per year were detected in State during 2012-13 to 2014-15.
Cuttack district, which recorded a higher prevalence rate of 1.5 among the general population (ANC attendees) in 2012-13 HIV Sentinel Surveillance, has not detected any HIV positive case among females during April - October this year. Moreover, the HIV Sentinel Surveillance 2012-13 records a high prevalence rate (7.1) among injectible drug users group in the State, which is a worrying feature for State. This is so when the surveillance shows a stable trend in only in 4-5 districts in Odisha.
On the contrary, as many as 11 districts display a worrying trend where the prevalence rate in general population is either on the rise or at least fluctuating.
Data with the State Health Department further reveals that as many as 34 deaths in Odisha last year were due to HIV/AIDS with Mayurbhanj accounting the maximum load among all districts. Deaths due to AIDS in Odisha last year were at around 0.3 per cent of total deaths.