Agartala, Feb 28 (PTI) Around 24 per cent of injecting drug users (IDUs) in Tripura, mostly young aged between 24 and 27 years, have been found HIV positive, health department officials said on Monday.
The state has identified 3,547 IDUs, and 860 of them have been afflicted with the human immunodeficiency virus.
“What is more alarming is that 320 students have become habitual IDUs, as per the statistics compiled by Tripura State AIDS Control Society (TSACS),” the official said.
Of them, 120 students have already been detected with HIV positive.
Around 66 per cent of HIV positive cases among IDUs are in the age group between 24 and 27 years, the official said.
This stands at 23.9 per cent for such people in the age group of 25-30 years, the report finds.
“The number of HIV positive cases among IDUs is growing because they take drugs in a single syringe, inviting danger,” Dr Radha Debbarma, the director of Family Welfare & Preventive Medicine, said.
She also said, “We have increased the number of testing across the state to identify IDUs so that they could be brought under treatment as early as possible. This is also the reason behind the increase in the number of IDUs and HIV positive cases.”
Keeping the development in mind, TSACS has chalked out a strategy to bring all the identified IDUs under a prescribed treatment protocol- Oral Substitute Therapy (OST).
Currently, OST is available in Vangmun and Damcherra in North Tripura’s Kanchapur subdivision to offer treatment to IDUs. A satellite OST is also working at Kumarghat in Unakoti, while one more facility is set to come up at Jirania in West Tripura district,” she said.
She appealed to all guardians and the society to come forward to address the problem before it slips out of the hands. PTI