50 per cent HIV cases reported from Southern States

New Delhi, Dec 1: The four Southern States of India namely Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka account for 3.6 lakh HIV cases which is almost 50 per cent of the total patients in the country.

According to Union Ministry of Health and Family welfare, these four Southern States are among the top four in the country having HIV affected people. Tamil Nadu alone has 80,685 HIV-affected people as on May 2014, says a Times of India report.

The report says that Andhra Pradesh (the residual part) tops the list with 1.7 lakh HIV affected people, it is followed by Maharashtra with 1.43 lakh people. Neighbouring Karnataka has over one lakh people with HIV.

The Health Ministry data shows that Gujarat has 40,121 such cases. While, the Hindi belt which has States like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, have not recorded many cases.

The report also pointed out that the cumulative numbers might be high in Southern States but the numbers of fresh cases have dropped significantly since 2010. The report also said that the number of new cases have reduced 50 per cent in the last three years across the country. It also said Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have witnessed a sharp decline in fresh cases.

Experts say that the drop in the number of fresh cases is due to the increase in awareness among people.

OneIndia News