HIV epidemic trends for Thane indicate high prevalence in HRGs

The HIV epidemic trends in the Thane district have indicated high prevalence among (High Risk Groups) HRGs and low prevalence among general population, said a report.
The HIV Sentinel Surveillance (HSS) data was compiled in a recent report by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
A chapter 'District Network Model (DNM)-Thane' in the report titled 'National Institute of Medical Statistics and NACO 2012 Technical Report-India HIV estimates 2012' says that Maharashtra is among India's high-HIV prevalence states.
The adult HIV prevalence in the state was 0.42 per cent in 2011, higher than the national average of 0.27 per cent. Out of 35 districts in the state, 32 have more than one per cent prevalence, epidemic dynamics and current programmatic gaps.

The report further stated that Thane district's decadal population growth rate of 35.94 per cent (Census 2011) has been recorded as more than double the national average.
This could be possibly due to large scale migration.

The district has multiple planning authorities with rapid industrialisation, well developed transportation and infrastructure that attracts tourists and migrants from several parts of the country.
"Thane has an estimated population of 17,000 female sex workers, 5000 male homosexuals, 4000 trans-gender/eunuchs, 600 injecting drug users, 3.5 lakh high risk migrants and around one lakh truckers, passing through the district.
"As per the last eight rounds of HIV Sentinel Surveillance (HSS) data, the HIV epidemic trends for Thane indicate high prevalence among HRGs," the report said.

Thane district has an extensive network of facilities and interventions, providing HIV prevention, care and treatment services.
However, there are some programmatic gaps such as coverage saturation of high risk groups, irregular outreach to communities, gaps in distribution of condoms, inadequate STI clinic attendance, and linkage loss in referral from one service to another.
There is a need to address coordinated responses across multiple programs and administrative bodies within the district, it added.