Mizoram has earned the dubious distinction of being the state with highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in the country, but the Government was making all efforts to tackle the menace, health minister R Lalthangliana told the Assembly on Tuesday.

A total of 21,538 cases have been registered in the State since October 1990, when the first patient was identified, he stated.

Lalthangliana, while replying to starred questions by MNF leader Vanlaltanpuia and Independent MLA Lalduhoma, also said that HIV prevalence was highest among youth in the age group of 25-34 years, accounting for 42.38 per cent of the total number of cases.

Expressing concern over the matter, the Minister insisted that the Government had been taking all measures to combat the disease.

Lalthangliana also said that he recently met leaders of NGOs, students’ bodies and churches and sought their help to control the spread of the disease, while efforts were also being made to seek technical assistance from UNAIDS.

According to Dr Lalthlengliani, the project director of Mizoram State Aids Control Society (MSACS), at least 2,416 people have died of the disease between January 2006 and September 2019.  

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Mizoram Governor, DoNER Ministry Secretary and the Civil Societies have separately expressed their concern over the rise of AIDS/HIV cases in the northeastern state, bordering Myanmar and Bangladesh, officials said on Friday.

DoNER (Development of North Eastern Region) Ministry Secretary Inder Jit Singh said that the Mizoram government has to make massive effort to check the growing spread of AIDS/HIV in the bordering state.

Singh, who is now on a three-day visit to Mizoram to study the ongoing projects funded by the Union DoNER Ministry, on Thursday called on state Governor P.S. Sreedharan Pillai at Raj Bhavan here and discussed the rising AIDS/HIV cases in Mizoram among other issues.

Singh said that the growing cases of AIDS/HIV in Mizoram are a big problem that needs to be attended immediately with all out efforts.

The top leadership of the Young Mizo Association (YMA), a most influential body in Mizoram, recently met the governor and sought his help to strengthen cooperation between the government and NGOs in order to fight against drugs abuse and HIV/AIDS on a war footing.

YMA President Vanlalruata told IANS over phone on Friday that according to the Mizoram State’s AIDS Control Society around 2.04 per cent of state’s total population is HIV infected.

“We are not sure whether the data on HIV/AIDS is correct or not, but a war-footing measures needs to be taken by all stakeholders to check the spread of the dreaded disease,” the youth leader said.

The YMA leaders apprised the governor that the free movement of people along the India-Myanmar border villages has led to an increase in the supply and smuggling of drugs from Myanmar.

Mizoram has an unfenced international border of 404 kms with Myanmar and 318 kms with Bangladesh. While the Border Security Force guards the Bangladesh border, the border with Myanmar is secured by the Assam Rifles.

With 10,91,014 population (2011 census), Christian dominated Mizoram is the second least populous state in the country.

The Governor while addressing an official function here said that HIV/AIDS has become a major problem and needs to tackle this problem on a war-footing manner.

“We need to create mass awareness and movement to ensure that this disease is rapidly checked and its growth arrested. I appreciate the efforts of the church, NGOs and voluntary organisations in tackling this menace, and I believe, if we join our hands together, we can win this battle,” the Governor said.

He said that the state government has recently launched an improved Mizoram State Health Care Scheme which aims to provide health insurance to beneficiaries especially economically backward classes and every citizens must make the best use of this scheme. 

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The Mizoram government will make separate budgetary provision to fight the growing HIV/AIDS prevalence in the state, an official of the state health department said on Friday.

The official said health minister R. Lalthangliana told experts during a review meeting of integrated HIV/AIDS action plan here on Thursday that the government, apart from deciding to allocate a separate budget, is planning to fight AIDS on a war footing.

Lalthangliana also asked experts to help the state government in fighting the growing spread of HIV/AIDS keeping in mind the mentality, culture and ethos of the local populace.

The minister also expressed hope that the review meeting, which involved the country’s top experts in the field, will chalk out a better action plan that effectively curbs the spread of HIV in Mizoram.

Organised jointly by the National AIDS Control Organisation (Naco), ministry of health and family welfare and Mizoram government, the two-day event concluded on Friday.

Christian-dominated Mizoram, which shares porous borders with Myanmar and Bangladesh, has the dubious distinction of being the highest HIV-prevalent state in the country with at least 2.04 per cent of the total population of about 11 lakh being infected with HIV.

Manipur, with 1.43 per cent of its total population being infected with HIV, stands at second followed by Nagland, while the national average is 0.2 per cent.

According to officials of the Mizoram State AIDS Control Society (MSACS), nearly 2,000 people have died as a result of AIDS in the state since the first case was detected in October 1990 and altogether 19,631 HIV cases have been detected in the state till date.

They said more than 67.21 per cent of HIV-positive cases were sexually transmitted, while about 28.12 per cent cases were transmitted through sharing needles by intravenous drug users.

Officials said the HIV prevalence rate is “extremely alarming” and in 2018-2019 alone 2,557 new cases were reported with nine persons testing positive every day.

Analysis of the HIV-positive cases confirmed at the testing centres show that people in the age group of 25-34 years are the most vulnerable in Mizoram, followed by those in the age brackets of 35-49 years and 15-24 years.

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Mizoram leads India’s states and union territories in HIV/AIDS burden, recording the country’s highest prevalence of the disease as the state diagnoses nine people every day. 

The state records a HIV/AIDS prevalence of 2.04 percent, the highest in the country. 17,897 people are infected with HIV in Mizoram – the highest figure in the country. In the 2018-19 period alone, 2,557 new cases were detected. In a state with a population of ten lakh – significantly lower than the majority of other states, officials have termed this “extremely high.” 

According to the Mizoram State AIDS Control Society (MCAS), 67.21 percent of HIV cases in the state are transmitted sexually. 28.12 percent are transmitted by intravenous drug use. Of demographics, “analysis of the HIV positive cases confirmed at the testing centres show that people in the age group of 25-34 years are the most vulnerable in Mizoram followed by those in the age brackets of 35-49 years and 15-24 years,” said MCAS project director Dr Lalthlengliani – noting that prevalence for these groups stands at 42.38 percent, 26.46 percent, and 23.03 percent respectively. 

“The present situation is indeed alarming,” Chief Minister Zoramthanga commented earlier this year. “We all must work towards creating awareness on the disease and its treatment and prevention.” 

Mizoram’s prevalence of HIV/AIDS is substantially higher than the national HIV/AIDS prevalence, which stands at just over 0.2 percent. Though the prevalence of HIV in India is relatively low compared to other nations, the country is nonetheless home to the third largest HIV/AIDS epidemic in the world. Whilst the country’s HIV/AIDS burden is substantial, cases in India have been falling, from 2.3 million in 2010 to 2.1 million in 2017. 

In this trend, Mizoram is an outlier – new infections have actually increased, in stark contrast to the national decrease of new HIV infections from 120,000 in 2010 to 88,000 in 2017. It is one of five states where this is the case. To counteract the trend, outreach among vulnerable groups and ensuring the provision of essential treatments is vital.

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Aizawl: Mizoram reported on Monday that at least 17,897 people are infected with HIV/AIDS, the highest in the country, with nine persons testing positive everyday.

Over 42 per cent of those in the age group of 25-34 have tested positive for HIV in the state, one of the least populated in the country, said officials of the Mizoram State AIDS Control Society (MSACS) that released the data on the occasion of the World AIDS Day.

Several awareness programmes were organised here and across the state to mark the Day, which was on December 1, a Sunday.

Officials said 2,557 fresh HIV cases were detected in 2018-19, which was “extremely high” as the state has a merely ten lakh population.

Among the total number of HIV patients, 6,069 are female, they said.

While HIV infections were earlier higher among drug addicts and sex workers, currently cases of AIDS are also being reported from higher strata of the society, an official said.

Officials sought cooperation of political leaders, civil society members and the churches to fight the menace in the Christian-dominated state.

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Aizawl: A few weeks after his meeting with Mizoram Government Doctors’ Association, state health and family welfare minister Dr R Lalthangliana on Monday invited the Mizoram Kohhran Hruaitu Committee (church leaders’ committee) along with medical experts from the Mizoram State Aids Control Society (MSACS) to discuss the prevalence of HIV/AIDS cases in the state.

At the meeting, the minister stated that though Mizoram has a good health record, the spread of HIV/AIDS in the last few years has accelerated — particularly between 2013 and 2014 — at an alarming rate.

He stressed that a new prevention and awareness campaign on HIV/AIDS needs to be taken up and called on church leaders to ramp up the awareness campaigns among the youths.

Reports from MSACS director Dr Lalthlengliani indicated that in 2018 alone, 2,557 cases of HIV/AIDS were detected, of which 843 were from Aizawl district alone. She stated that nine positive cases of HIV/AIDS are reported in Mizoram every day, with the most vulnerable people aged between 25 and 34 years.

Dr Lalthlengliani also stated that the elimination of ‘infected mother to child transmission’ shall be started from 2020.

According to the Mizoram State AIDS Control Society (MSACS), 67.21% of HIV-positive cases from 2006 to March 2019 were transmitted sexually, while 28.12% cases were through infected needles shared by intravenous drug users.

Data compiled by the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) in 2017 showed that 2.04% of Mizoram’s population is found to be HIV-positive against the national average of 0.2%. This puts the state with the highest record of HIV prevalence followed by Manipur (1.43%) and Nagaland (1.15%).

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