The number of HIV positive cases in the state has gone down by 36 percent in five years under a surveillance programme undertaken by the Maharashtra State AIDS Control Society. The number of cases of vector-borne diseases like malaria and chikungunya has also gone down, but cases of dengue fever has shot up, according to the latest economic survey.
The survey stated that the number of HIV positive patients fell from 72,000 in 2009 to 46,000 in 2013. The number of AIDS cases also reduced during the period from 19,389 to 10,670. But the number of deaths due to AIDS has gone up one and a half times from 1,183 in 2009 to 3,168 deaths in 2013.
The Maharashtra State AIDS Control Society conducts surveillance of patients at clinics for the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases and of women seeking antenatal care. State health department officials attribute the lower number of HIV+ and AIDS cases to the awareness campaigns run by various agencies.
There is also improvement in the incidence of vector-borne diseases and it has been suggested that this too is due to the implementation of the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme that covers malaria, lymphatic filariasis, Japanese encephalitis, dengue, chikungunya and chandipura. There were 95,653 cases of malaria in 2009-10 and 232 people died due to the disease. In 2013-14, the number came down drastically to 37,866 and there were 68 deaths.
The number of cases of lymphatic filariasis has come down from 5,694 to 3,145 and the number of chikungunya cases has reduced from 1,703 to 1,410. There were just five cases of AES/Chandipur in 2013-14 against 88 in 2009-10.
The big worry was the sharp rise in the number of dengue cases that compared with the increase across the country. In 2009-10 there were 6,940 cases, whereas in 2013-14 the number climbed to 36,777. The number of deaths from dengue also rose from 20 to 124 in the period.
Education helps
State health department officials attribute the lower number of HIV+ and AIDS cases over a five-year period to the awareness campaigns run by various agencies. The Maharashtra State AIDS Control Society conducts surveillance of patients at clinics for the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases and of women seeking antenatal care.
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