THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 2024
HIV positive cases in Goa peaked in 2007 when 1029 cases were detected. Thereafter, number of new HIV cases declined with 954 cases in 2008, 901 in 2009, 769 in 2010, 630 in 2011.
However, there is a problem with data when it comes to 2012, with one survey claiming that 497 cases were detected out of 28,075 tests and the other claiming that there are 532 cases of 30,500 cases were found to be positive.
Most of the HIV-afflicted continue to be males, while females form 38% of the total cases detected.
In Goa, the first case of HIV was detected in 1987 barely six years after the HIV virus was discovered in USA among homosexuals in 1981. In 1987, the first case was detected in a foreigner. In 1988, an Indian but a non-Goan was detected and barely a year later, in 1989 Goa got its first indigenous case in a Goan student.
Till date the total number of HIV cases detected in Goa since 1987 to 2013 till March is 14,802 of which total AIDS cases reported to Goa SACS up to March 2013 is 1,582 and of these 967 AIDS deaths have been reported up to February 2013.
HIV infection is now prevalent in all parts of Goa with majority of the cases being reported from four coastal talukas ~ Salcete (11.1%), Mormugao (16.6%) in South Goa and Tiswadi (7.7%) and Bardez (16.2%) in North Goa during 2012. Out of 532 cases reported in Goa during 2012, 27% belong to other States /foreigners/not specified.
Sexual intercourse is the predominant mode of transmission in the range of 83 to 96% followed by Prenatal transmission which is 4 to 7.6%. Transmission through blood and blood products and infected syringes and needles is negligible in Goa.
This decline comes even as other sexually transmitted diseases are showing an increasing trend through reports from the Sexually Transmitted Disease Clinics (STD Clinics) set up by the state government. In 2012, 1866 cases of STDs were detected, nearly three-fourths of who were females, and upto 2013 March the number of STD cases is 567.
However, what remains a concern for public health officials, is the fluctuating cases of STD. While this year’s figures are, no doubt, lower than at the turn of the century with 2156 cases being detected in 2001, a figure of 1866 for 2012 and 567 for 2013 up to March isn’t much lower than what it was more than a decade ago.
Females show a high rate of contacting STD with 1350 of the total 1866 cases detected in 2012, being females and only 510 were males, highlighting how much attention needs to be given to female reproductive health.
The 2012 figures was even higher than 2011 of 1757 and this was higher than the 2010 figure of 1602 and was hovering around 1000 in 2008 and 2009.
The State had successfully brought down that figure to 629 in 2007, from the 2000s. It was in 2001 and 2002 that the STD cases began rising.
