Land of Jewels (Sana Leibak)

2007 -- A year of new twist: Imphal, Jan 3: The calendar year 2007 ended and issues relating to HIV and AIDS surfaced every now and then throughout the year, touching the consciousness of the people. Going by the figures, this year there were 2528 new HIV positive cases reported and 177 AIDS cases and 21 deaths. This is based on the epidemiological analysis report published monthly by Manipur State AIDS Control Society. Though the report is to be published monthly, the latest report published by MSACS for the year 2007 is till the month of October. From September 1986 to January 2007 out of 1,86,095 blood samples screened, altogether 25,433 positive samples were found. The rest are males with only 5,892 female blood samples. Out of this, 3,977 people developed AIDS and 578 died. In the September 1986 to October 2007 report, out of 2,21,119 blood samples screened, the number of positive samples were 27,961 with the number of female rising to 7,106 and AIDS cases reaching 4,154. There we...

Inclusion of co-infection issues in policy mooted: Imphal, Dec 23: The attention of the Manipur State AIDS Control Society has been drawn to the urgent need for inclusion of issues related to treatment of HIV-Hepatitis C co-infection among HIV positive patients in the state AIDS policy. Participating in the programme on “Indian People’s Tribunal on Stigma and Discrimination towards People living with HIV/AIDS”, which is underway since Saturday at the conference hall of Institute of Co-operative Management at Lamphelpat here, programme co-ordinator of Manipur Network of Positive People (MNP+) Ng Ratan pointed out that the issue related to HIV-Hepatitis C co-infection is the biggest problem being faced by people living with HIV/AIDS. However, there has been no facilities for treatment of such patients in the state AIDS policy till today, he said while contending that just as provisions for treatment of HIV-TB co-infection has been included in the State AIDS Policy, similar provisions sho...