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Dr. Vinito L Chishi addressing theological students of Withee Bible College on Wed. Aug. 29 in Dimapur.[/caption]
Eastern Mirror Desk
Dimapur, Aug. 29: Nagaland has an alarming number of people living with the deadly Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Out of the 10,79,125 people being tested for the virus between April 2006 and May 2018, 24,490 of them were tested positive, according to the statistic provided by Legislators’ Forum on AIDS (LFA) state consultant Dr. Vinito L Chishi.
The data provided by LFA said 23,491 adults were tested HIV positive out of 1,046,767 blood screened, while 999 children out of 32,358 screened were tested positive for the deadly virus.
Chishi spoke to theology students of Withee Bible College at its one day programme “Advocacy on HIV/AIDS by LFA on AIDS” on Wed. Aug. 29 at the college premises in Dimapur. He stressed on the role of the church to control the spread of this deadly viral. “HIV/AIDS and its theology were crucial because the theologian as members of the Church will play a greater role for the Church. Church platform should be to inform and educate people and act as the main platform because Church is a permanent institution,” said Chishi.
Dimapur topped the list of districts with most HIV patients in the state with 9,694 (5.15%) people being found positive out of the 1,88,166 tested for the virus, and Mon has the minimum HIV cases with just 200 (0.22%) out of 90,048 people tested. Tuensang district is in the second position with 2,748 cases, followed by Kohima (3,311 cases), Kiphire (570), Mokokchung (1,583), Peren (460), Phek (337) Zunheboto (335), and Wokha (369).
However the LFA consultant said that the low percentage of HIV cases in some districts could be because of non-availability of proper integrated testing centres.
According to National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) technical report, adult HIV prevalence rate in the state was 0.76% and the general population prevalence rate was 0.82% (NACO HSS 2014-15 report). Strategic Information Management System (SIMS) data collected from April 2016 to March 2017 has revealed that people in the age group of between 24-34 has highest number of HIV positive cases in the state with 42%, followed by the age group between 35-49 years with 31% and 15-24 years with 15%.
SIMS’ findings from 2016-2017 said that 90% of HIV transmission was sexual activities, 6% from parent to child, 1% through needle and syringes, and 3% unknown.
A total number of 17,301 HIV patients have been registered at Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) Centre since 2004, but only 11,753 took up ART and 1,561 patients have died.