NACO Says Amritsar Highest HIV Positive Drug Users in India

The National AIDS Control Organization has revealed that new data from the Sentinel Surveillance and Estimation Report 2007 suggests Amritsar has the highest HIV positive drug users in India.

The Punjab city has overtaken Churchandpur district of Manipur which has 28 percent of HIV positive drug users in the country and was the highest when a survey was made previously.

“The figures, which we provide NACO for the compilation of data, do not include the number of HIV patients in the high-risk groups. That figure will be added to the final count from next year. The number of HIV positive persons is likely to be double than what the figures say right now," said Dr NM Sharma, the additional project director of the state AIDS Control Society.

The data also indicates that Amritsar has the highest number of HIV positive people in the state, a figure that has alarmed the officials of the state AIDS control society.



Source-Medindia
RAS