DHAKA: The risk of AIDS infection has risen among the youths, earning individuals and the expatriates. They have a higher rate of HIV infection.

According to the government statistics, the number of AIDS patients has increased among the people from 25 to 49 age groups.

People of these age groups have mostly been infected from November 2014 to October 2015. As many as 358 people were newly infected in this period.

The study further showed that the rate of infection is higher among men than women and women are mostly infected by their husbands.

Among the infected people this year, 344 are men covering 73 percent of the total infected number while 25 percent are woman (117) and 8 percent are from transgender group.

According to the statistics, 30 percent of the infected individuals are or were expatriates and their wives and children were infected by this disease.

A UNAIDS survey said, 30 percent of newly affected women received the virus from their husbands in 2014.

Not just the wives of the expatriates, some people were also infected indirectly by injections of used syringes and use of HIV positive’s blood as some get it from their parents or husbands.

The government report, released on World AIDS day 2015, has provided more information about the matter. It said, 469 individuals have been detected as recent victims and 95 of them died, which is worse then the past years.

Not only the earning youth class, but the risk is quite higher among the people aged above 50.

Among them, the number of recently infected people is 50 making 10 percent of the total number. The number of adolescent victims (from 19 to 24 years) is 36.

Some officials have opined that the lack of proper knowledge and awareness of the expatriates could be the reasons of HIV infection in Bangladesh.

They further claimed that the lack of proper training about AIDS before departing to other countries and lack of disease detection system at the airports is holding back AIDS detection. The expatriates’ family members are being infected by then.

According to UNAIDS, 34 million people are infected by AIDS worldwide at present and 35 million people have died of this disease.

Health Department general director Dr Deen Mohammad Nurul Hoque, Family Planning directorate director general Nur Hossain Talukdar and Bangladesh Medical Association general secretary Professor M Iqbal Arsalan showed their concern saying that Bangladesh is also at risk.

They said that less than one percent of people in Bangladesh are infected. But the geo-location of Bangladesh makes the risk higher. The rate of AIDS infection in the neighboring countries like India, Nepal and Myanmar is at dangerous level which is a risk for Bangladesh.

Health minister Mohammed Nasim said, “The number of HIV infected people is 4,143 from 1989 to 2015. Among them, 658 died of this disease. The government is working for prevention, detection and treatment of AIDS”.

BDST: 2201 HRS, DEC 10, 2015
AIK/RR