Imphal, March 20: The AIDS pandemic in Manipur has assumed a new dimension with a large section of people in the “productive age group” of 21 to 30 beginning to fall prey to the disease.
The new project director of the Manipur AIDS Control Society (MACS), S. Sukumar Singh, today said the number of HIV-positive pregnant women was on the rise.
“With 2.4 per cent of pregnant women testing positive, we really have a problem on our hands,” he said at the inauguration of a two-day exhibition of materials for HIV/AIDS awareness programmes.
The exhibition has been organised jointly by the Lifeline Foundation, Imphal, and the US Consulate in Calcutta. Rex Moser, public affairs officer of the US consulate, and state chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh were among the guests at the inauguration.
Since the first AIDS patient in Manipur was identified in 1990, the disease has claimed 272 lives in the state. Of the 94,165 blood samples tested so far, 14,937 have been found to be HIV positive. As many as 2,178 of these samples are of women. The number of full-blown AIDS cases is pegged at 1,701.
Imphal West and Imphal East top the list of AIDS-affected districts. Next on the list is Thoubal, followed by Churachandpur district. “These figures are part of official data. I believe a large number of cases remain unidentified,” Sukumar Singh said.
Intravenous drug-users initially constituted over 80 per cent of the total number of HIV-positive people in the state, but it has come down to 50 per cent because of a sustained awareness programme. The bad news is that HIV/AIDS is no longer confined to drug users.