Only 75 HIV-AIDS cases this year,as compared to 122 in 2012

Also,as per the Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) centre,PGI has 3,239 patients of which only 364 (11.23%) are from Chandigarh,while the rest are from neighbouring states.

Further,the major cause of HIV in Chandigarh is unsafe sex. “Unprotected sex is the reason behind 89 per cent HIV cases in the city. It is a major threat and more awareness is needed among high risk groups,” said Dr Vanita Gupta,Director of State AIDS Control Society (SACS).

The information was shared during the HIV-AIDS-cum-curtain raiser for AIDSCON-3 held by the States AIDS Control society. The conference was chaired by Home-cum-Health Secretary Anil Kumar.

As per SACS data,the number has reduced to 0.21 per cent this years in comparison to the national prevalence of 0.36 per cent.

Anil Kumar talked about the availability of safe blood in the community. “The HIV positivity amongst blood donors is very low at 0.07 per cent,which ensures that safe blood is available to the community,” he said.

According to the HIV Sentinel Surveillance,HIV prevalence has shown a decline in infection in Chandigarh. Among female sex workers it has declined from 0.67 per cent (2006) to 0 per cent (2011),while amongst men having sex with men (MSM) it has come down from 4.80 per cent (2006) to 0.40 per cent (2011) and amongst Intravenous Drug Users it has declined from 17.60 per cent (2006) to 7.20 per cent (2011).

As per Dr Vanita Gupta,Director,State AIDS Control Society (SACS),the new case detection of HIV has declined. “More cases are being tested,but fewer cases are being found positive. In 2009,22,253 general clients were tested and 5 per cent were positive. In 2012,more than 40,000 cases were tested and only 2 per cent were found positive.”

The new case detection among pregnant women has also declined. In 2009,over 20,000 pregnant women were tested and 68 (0.33%) were positive,while in 2012,the number of positive cases declined from 22,000 to 47.

New programme to check HIV-AIDS will be launched in January

The State AIDS Control Society (SACS) will launch a new programme ‘Integrated Biological Behaviour Surveillance’ (IBBS) in January,under which high-risk groups will be interviewed and behavioural indicators collected. The high-risk groups include sex workers,intravenous drug users,men having sex with men.

The national Integrated Biological and Behavioural Surveillance (IBBS) is a project of the Department of AIDS Control,Ministry of Health and Family Welfare under the central government and will be implemented with the support of eight regional institutes,31 SACS and development partners across the country.

Anil Kumar,UT Home-Cum-Health Secretary announced during the curtain raiser of AIDSCON- 3, that the UT health department will start the IBBS programme by January next year.

Dr Vanita Gupta,SACS director said,“The objective of National IBBS is to generate evidence on HIV prevalence and risk behaviours among high-risk groups,male migrants and spouses of male migrants. Under the programme,people in the high-risk groups will be interviewed,including those who have HIV and those who do not.”

Further,the study will help analyse and understand HIV-related vulnerabilities and risk profiles among key risk groups in different regions by linking behaviours with biological findings.