HIV infects over 17 lakh people in India in last 10 years; Andhra Pradesh tops in states

New Delhi: In a reply to RTI query, the government said more than 17 lakh people contracted HIV in India in the past 10 years. The government quoted the data provided by National AIDS Control Organization (NACO). The main cause of the infection was found to be unprotected intercourse.

The RTI was filed by Madhya Pradesh-based activist Chandra Shekhar Gaur. The actual data by NACO revealed 17,08,777 people got infected with HIV due to unprotected sex between 2011-2021 in India.

Notably, the data suggests the case of HIV significantly went down in the country in the last 10 years. In the year 2011-12, the number of HIV transmission in people by unprotected sex was registered 2.4 lakh. In 2020-21, the case tanked to 85,268 from 2.4 lakh people.

If we look an the data of the states, Andhra Pradesh reported the highest number of such cases of HIV transmission at 3,18,814. This is followed by Maharashtra at 2,84,577, Karnataka at 2,21,982, Tamil Nadu at 1,16,536, Uttar Pradesh at 1,10,911 and Gujarat at 87,440 cases.

As per the data collected from 18 month antibody testing, 15,782 people came in contact with the infection by transmission through blood and blood products from 2011-12 to 2020-21. The 4,423 patient got the disease from mother to child transmission.

The consistent decline in case of transmission of HIV has been noticed over the year in all state and Union territories, according to the data.

Among the 23,18,737 people living with HIV 81,430 are children as of 2020.

HIV is very dangerous for human as it directly attacks the body’s immune system. Doctars say there is no effective treatment for the virus but it can be manged with proper medical care

If left untreated, the virus can lead to AIDS (Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome)