Assam has registered a significant jump in the number of people living with HIV/AIDS which has also made it vulnerable to be categorised as a high risk region. Disclosing that state’s proximity with Manipur, a very critical state in term of HIV/AIDS was the most worrying factor, Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told
reporters, “Assam may not be a high prevalent state, but the worrying part is that we are surrounded by Manipur, a state having 25,000 people living with HIV/AIDS.”
Referring the figure of Assam state AIDS control society, Mr Sarma pointed out that there are 4,251 people living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The jump in the number of people infected with the virus has increased from 364 in 2001 to 4,251 in April this year. The state has also 1,070 people living with AIDS. “A record 86 percent of the people living with HIV contracted the virus through promiscuous sex. With Assam considered the gateway to the Northeast, truckers from outside the region are to a great extent responsible for spreading the virus,” the minister said.
So far, 230 people have died of HIV/AIDS in Assam. Admitting that the efforts of NGOs and pressure groups, government agencies in the region have not been able to curb either drug addiction or prostitution, the minister stressed the need educating the people. The health workers and NGOs working in this field have also emphasised the need of educating sex workers following surveys that suggest most prostitutes in the region were engaging in unprotected sex. Another area of concern is that HIV positive persons have to fight against the infection as well as the social stigma.