Madhya Pradesh ranks sixth in HIV spread through needles

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh has an alarmingly high percentage of HIV patients who got infected through shared needles, an indication also that drug abuse is more rampant than thought.
The state is sixth in the country where most HIV infections in the last 10 years have been through needle transmission. In 2020-21 at least one person was infected with HIV via a needle in MP.
Experts say that addiction of narcotic substances using syringes is one of the major reasons for this spread.
Replying to an RTI query from Neemuch-based activist Chandra Shekhar Gaur, the National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) has said that shared needles were to blame for 45,864 HIV infections in the country between 2011-12 and 2020-21.
Punjab tops the list with 15,924 needle transmissions. Delhi is a distant second with 5,841 HIV infections on this count, followed closely by Uttar Pradesh at 5,569. After these three states, it is Manipur and Mizoram, with 4,906 and 2,594 needle-transmitted infections, and Madhya Pradesh comes in at sixth with 1,768 such HIV infections in the same 10-year period.
Experts here say that infection spreads fastest through shared needles.
“The rate of spread of infection is highest in cases where infected syringes are used as it is injected directly into the bodies of the people. And one of the major reasons is people addicted to narcotics who inject them. With the help of volunteer organisations, we have identified around 8,000 people in Madhya Pradesh who inject narcotics and are addicted to it. This could be one of the reasons (for the high number of needle transmission of HIV),” project director of Madhya Pradesh State AIDS Control Society, K D Tripathi, told TOI.
The society runs 20 centres for such people, with targeted interventions to ensure their safety and guide them towards deaddiction, Tripathi added. Overall, around 4,000 HIV infections are detected in the state each year, he said.
Chandra Shekhar Gaur who sought the information under the Act said, “The figures are scary and urgent action needs to be taken to stop the spread.”