The number of people infected with AIDS in Assam has come down by eight per cent in two years to 19,545 on account of various initiatives by a state agency to control the disease, an official said on Tuesday. As per India’s HIV Estimation 2019 report, the northeastern state had 21,223 people living with HIV, Assam State AIDS Control Society (ASACS) Assistant Director Rajib Sarma said. The estimated adult HIV prevalence rate of 0.09 per cent in Assam is lower than the national prevalence rate at 0.22 per cent, he added.
Assam is highly vulnerable for HIV transmission as it is the gateway to other northeastern states and is surrounded by the three highly prevalence states of Mizoram (2.32 per cent), Nagaland (1.45 per cent) and Manipur (1.18 per cent), the official said.