39 died, 143 AIDS patients diagnosed in 2009

One hundred and forty-three people have been diagnosed to be suffering from AIDS and 39 persons died of the disease in Bangladesh this year, according to an official statistics released on the occasion of World AIDS Day, which fell on December 1.
‘We are intensifying surveillance and the campaign against HIV/AIDS as the prevalence of the disease among high-risk groups is rising,’ the health and family welfare minister, AFM Ruhal Haque, said at a briefing at the ministry.
He said the prevalence of HIV among injecting drug users was 9 per cent while it was 1 per cent in other risk groups, including sex workers.
‘In Bangladesh, around 1,745 people have been affected by HIV since 1989 and 204 out the 619 detected with AIDS died of the disease during the period… This year 250 people have been affected by HIV afresh,’ the minister said.
Asked why the National AIDS Committee could not hold a single meeting in 11 months of the Awami League-led government, Ruhal said the national committee was yet to be reconstituted.
The health secretary, Sheikh Altaf Ali, said the government had limited the activities in observance of AIDS Day this year to holding only a briefing as ‘many officials and employees were still on leave’ for Eid-ul-Azha, celebrated on Saturday.
He said the government with the help of non-governmental organisations was working to check spread of HIV/AIDS and to remove stigma against HIV patients in society.
The theme of World AIDS Day 2009 is universal access and human rights.
The prime minister’s adviser on health and social welfare Syed Modasser Ali said the government should streamline funds coming from international donor agencies to address HIV/AIDS and ensure that the money was used properly for the target population vulnerable to the disease.
The health services director general, Shah Monir Hossain, said the government had so far received Tk 90 crore from the global fund since 2004 to contain spread of HIV/AIDS among the high-risk groups.
He said HIV prevalence was higher among injecting drug users in some particular areas in Dhaka city.
As for irregularities in implementing the National AIDS/STD Programme, the director general said a committee was formed to investigate the lapses in programme activities.
The state minister for health, Mozibur Rahman, among others, spoke at the briefing.

Source: NewAgebd