India may claim to have reduced new HIV cases, but a sharp rise in the number of death has been reported due to AIDS across the States. As many as 35,265 people succumbed to the disease in 2012-13 against 31,990 in 2011-12.
Andhra Pradesh has topped the HIV mortality list with 8,264 deaths followed by Maharashtra (6468) and Karnataka (6309), as per the data tabled by the Union Health Ministry in the Parliament recently. less awareness of HIV status among patients, late diagnosis resulting in late treatment as well as continued stigma attached to the disease have taken toll on the health of the patients afflicted with the disease.
Also, the disturbing trend has come amidst complaints of shortage of CD4 test kits-monitoring tools used in the treatment of HIV/AIDS patients-particularly in Delhi, Mumbai and the North-Eastern States. These States are besides those like Karnataka, Punjab, Orissa, Assam, Goa, Gujarat and MP where a significant increase in deaths in the last two years has been reported. Arunanchal and Sikkim are the only two States which have reported single digit deaths in 2012-13.
Though the statistics are silent on the death among HIV infected children, estimates put it to 7 per cent of all AIDS-related deaths annually. Data also shows that expenditure has been less than what has been allocated by the Ministry to the States for anti-AIDS programme during the said period. Based on the HIV Sentinel Surveillance 2011, the estimated number of people living with HIV in India maintained a steady declining trend from 23.2 lakh in 2006 to 20.9 lakh in 2011.
In 2011, among the States, Manipur has shown the highest estimated adult HIV prevalence of 1.22 per cent, followed by Andhra Pradesh (0.75 per cent), Mizoram (0.74 per cent), Nagaland (0.73 per cent), Karnataka (0.52 per cent), Goa (0.43 per cent) and Maharashtra (0.42 per cent) much higher than the national prevalence of 0.27per cent.
It is 0.20 per cent to 0.27 per cent in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Tripura, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Delhi and Bihar. Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Manipur, Delhi and Kerala have estimated HIV infections between 25,000 and 75,000 each and together account for another 15 per cent of HIV infections in the country.