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Cases of HIV-AIDS among adolescents increasing rapidly in J&K

Vikas Sharma. Dated: 12/4/2018 10:52:50 AM

4609 HIV-positive patients in J&K, 120,000 children, adolescents in India

Vikas Sharma
Jammu, Dec 3
Though the government is trying hard, to aware the people about the causes as well as the preventive measures about the eradication of HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) that causes AIDS, such cases has registered a marginal increase in Jammu and Kashmir.
Pertinent to mention here that the prevalence of HIV that causes AIDS has slow­ly tightened its grip on Jammu and Kashmir as over 4,600 patients including many kids have been test­ed HIV positive in the state so far.
“Because of the social taboo, people are not coming for­ward for the HIV tests and over the years number of patients infected by HIV has shown a rising trend,” said a top official of State AIDS Control Society.
Meanwhile, the official data reveals the total number of people facing deadly disease (HIV) in the Jammu and Kashmir as on Aug 2018 is 4609.
Citing the reason about its increasing trend, the officials further claimed that the drug menace has attained an alarming proportion in the state. While the use of infected syringes is a major reason for HIV transmission mainly in the Kashmir valley, female sex workers, truckers and labourers are the main transmitters in the Jammu region.
The other major causes of being affected by the virus are blood transfusion, unprotected sex and multi-person usage of needles,” the officials further added.
Meanwhile, an estimated 120,000 children and adolescents aged 0-19 were living with HIV in India in 2017, the highest number in South Asia, according a report by UNICEF which warned that around 80 adolescents will be dying of AIDS every day globally by 2030 if progress in preventing transmission is not accelerated.
As per the reports, South Asia has made substantial progress in reducing HIV risks and vulnerability among children, adolescents, pregnant women and mothers.
In India, an estimated 120,000 children and adolescents aged 0–19 were living with HIV in 2017. In Pakistan, this number was 5,800, followed by Nepal (1,600) and Bangladesh (less than 1,000), according to the UNICEF report released Thursday ‘Children, HIV and AIDS: The World in 2030.’
In 2017, the estimated number of children under 5 years old newly diagnosed with HIV was 43 per cent lower than the comparable estimate in 2010 — a decline greater than the 35 per cent recorded globally.
The estimated share of those aged 0–14 living with HIV who had been initiated on lifesaving antiretroviral therapy (ART) was 73 per cent in 2017, an increase of nearly 50 percentage points from 2010.
The report however warned that by 2030, around 80 adolescents will be dying of AIDS every day if “we don’t accelerate progress in preventing transmission.”
Currently, three million persons 19 years and younger, are infected with HIV worldwide. Two million new infections could be averted by 2030, if global targets are met—this means providing adequate access to HIV prevention, care and treatment services, and testing and diagnoses.