Over 5,200 lives lost to HIV/AIDS in Mizoram since 1990

way2barak, Sept 18: The Mizoram Legislative Forum on HIV/AIDS was informed on Tuesday that at least 5,277 people have died in Mizoram due to HIV/AIDS from October 1990 to August this year.

State health and family welfare department officials, citing data from the Mizoram State AIDS Control Society (MSACS), revealed that 31,461 people have been diagnosed with HIV during the same period. Of these cases, 2,541 were transmitted from mother to child.

The majority of HIV transmissions 63.93% occurred through unsafe sex, while 30.80% were linked to the sharing of syringes and needles. Despite the high number of infections, only 16,661 individuals are currently receiving Anti-retroviral Therapy (ART), with the whereabouts of the remaining patients unknown.

Mizoram’s Adult HIV Prevalence, as estimated in 2023, stands at 2.73%, sig- nificantly higher than the national average of 0.2%. The state currently has 39 Inte- grated Counselling and Testing Centres (ICTC) offering free HIV testing, along with ART centres established in all 11 districts.

During the meeting, state health minister Lalrinpuii expressed concern over the rapid spread of HIV, noting that even individuals from unlikely social backgrounds have been affected. She urged legislators to raise awareness in their constituencies about the disease.

The forum also tasked MSACS with exploring options, in consultation with the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), to implement a statewide HIV testing programme. It proposed a policy for mandatory testing similar to that required for pregnant women.

The meeting was chaired by Lalrinpuii, with MSACS project director Dr. Lalthlengliani serving as member secretary. The Mizoram Legislative Forum on HIV/AIDS includes 25 leg- islators as members.