HIV killed 64 in Sudur Paschim in a year

By Avinash Chaudhary, Dhangadhi, Dec.6: 64 people have succumbed to Human Immunodeficiency Virus /Acquired Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV/AIDS) in the Sudur Paschim Province in a year. 

As per the Provincial Health Directorate, 24 females and 43 males and one LGBTQIA plus have lost life to HIV/AIDS. The same number of people lost their lives to HIV/AIDS in the previous fiscal year. 

There is a diagnosis of HIV/AIDS in 4,639 people in the province, however, the Provincial Health Directorate assumed that around 5,190 people might be living with HIV/AIDS. Of the 4,639 diagnoses, 3,623 are receiving treatment. 

According to, Provincial Health Directorate, 1,709 in Kailali, 415 in Kanchanpur, 592 in Achham, 108 in Dadeldhura, 121 in Baitadi, 42 in Darchula, 89 in Bajhang and 62 in Bajuara are receiving the antiretroviral therapy (ART). 

252 additional people in the province have made it to the list of HIV/AIDS patients in the 2079/80 list. Of the added number, 103 are females, 147 are male and two are from LGBTQIA plus. 

120 new cases in Kaillai,53 in in Kanchanpur, 28 in Achham, 28 in Doti, six in Dadeldhura, eight in Baitadi, one in Darchula, and six each in Bajhang and Bajuara, are added this fiscal year in comparison to fiscal year 2079/80.

Manoj Prasad Ojha, HIV resource person of the directorate said that a total of 144,649 tested for HIV/AIDS in the previous fiscal year. Among them, 53,908 were pregnant women, while, four mothers tested positive for the virus. 

It is said in the province, that HIV/AIDS is brought by the ones who go for foreign employment in India, and they transfer to their wives in the process.