HIV cases on the rise in Hyderabad, 11846 cases found in 2016

Hyderabad: HIV cases are on the rise in the districts of Telangana, 33 per cent of them are recorded in Hyderabad itself. The number of HIV cases has risen by alarmingly seven percent in the last one year.

As per the official data, Telangana recorded 11,846 new cases of HIV AIDS during 2016. The total population of PLHIV in the state stands at 1,73,398 as on January 1, 2017 as against 1,61,552 cases in 2015.

As reported by the Times of India, ‘about 1,000 new cases of HIVAIDS, are reported every month in the state. Hyderabad has 33 per cent of people living with HIV.’

The official data obtained through a right to information (RTI) query posed by the Helping Hand Foundation (HHF) revealed that the most common route of transmission of the virus is through heterosexual activity. As many as 55,319 people living with HIV have registered at the three centres (Osmania General Hospital, Gandhi General Hospital and Government Chest Hospital) in Hyderabad for anti-retroviral therapy. After Hyderabad, Khammam district has the highest population of PLHIV (14,361), followed by Mahboobnagar (13,911), Nalgonda (13,745), Warangal (12,936), Sangareddy (10,995) and Nizamabad (10,726).

HHF president Mujtaba Hasan Askari said Telangana recorded 11,846 new cases of HIVAIDS during 2016.