By TRN Online, Kathmandu, Feb.21: 76 per cent of HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) infections in Nepal were found transmitted through unprotected sex and injecting drugs.

According to Lok Raj Pandey, Spokesperson at the National Centre for AIDS and STD Control (NCASC), 24 per cent of HIV virus is transmitted via a non-sexual medium, while 76 per cent of HIV is transmitted through unprotected sex and injecting drugs.

He said, “High-risk HIV users include injecting drug users, sex workers, and seasonal labour migrants (migrating to HIV prevalence areas in India). The data also shows that people travelling abroad for foreign employment and in jail are at risk for HIV.”

He added that more than two thousand new AIDS infection cases are being added in Nepal every year.

According to a recent study of USAID, Nepal is home to approximately 50,200 people living with HIV, and four out of every five infections in Nepal have occurred through sexual transmission.

 A total of 2,579 people have tested positive for the HIV of the total 242,689 testing for the virus in the fiscal year 2077/78.

A total of 2,416 people tested positive for the virus in the fiscal year 2076,77, 2,298 people tested positive in the fiscal year 2075/77, 2,2013 tested positive for the virus in the fiscal year 2074/75, 2,111 tested positive in the fiscal year 2073/74 and 3,671 tested positive in the fiscal year 2072/73.

According to the National AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Disease Control Center, the number of people infected with HIV is higher in Bagmati Province than in other provinces in the fiscal year 2077/78. A total of 222 new cases were detected in Province 1, 565 in Madhesh Province, 222 in Gandaki Province, 511 in Lumbini Province, 32 in Karnali Province, and 224 in Sudur Paschim Province.

The government has released the fifth national HIV/AIDS Strategic Plan on February,20.  The National Center for AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases Control has made public the National HIV Strategic Plan 2021-2026 with the aim of eradicating HIV.

Dr Dipendra Raman Singh, Director at the Department of Health Services (DoHS), said that the strategic plan is made with an aim to eliminate AIDS by 2030.