On World AIDS Day, observed annually on December 1, senior health officials in Maharashtra announced a significant public health achievement: a robust deployment of antiretroviral therapy (ART) and extensive awareness programmes have successfully reduced HIV transmission and positivity rates in the state to tolerable minimums.
The Power of Antiretroviral Therapy
Antiretroviral therapy, a regimen of medicines given to HIV patients, has been a cornerstone of this success. This treatment, sometimes taken daily, works by stopping the virus from reproducing within the body. In many cases, viral loads have dropped to undetectable levels. When administered at the right time, ART is even known to restore patients' immune systems to a significant extent.
Roshani Kadam, Deputy Director (IEC) of the Maharashtra health department, provided compelling data. The state currently has 2,46,066 registered HIV patients, and health department records show that an impressive over 95% of them now have low viral loads. "These patients, who were registered for ART in 2008, 2013 and 2017, have achieved stable health by strictly following the treatment," Kadam stated.
Elderly Patients: A Testament to Treatment Efficacy
The effectiveness of ART is powerfully illustrated by the state's elderly HIV-positive population. "Many of these patients are of advanced age," Kadam noted. "So their experience once again highlights the effectiveness of ART because patients remain in good health despite being in their 60s, 70s or older."
Currently, there are at least four elderly HIV patients registered across the state's 91 ART centres. Kadam confirmed, "We have two men aged 85 and 88 and two women who're 87 and 90. They've maintained good health by taking medicines regularly and attending check-ups." She emphasized that with consistent ART, an infected person can live a normal life. The treatment reduces the viral load in the patient's body, drastically cuts the risk of opportunistic diseases like Tuberculosis, and minimizes the risk of developing full-blown AIDS.
Declining Transmission and Stable Positivity
A key area of concern in the fight against HIV has been vertical transmission, which is the spread of the virus from an infected mother to her child. Maharashtra has recorded a remarkable drop in such cases. The rate has fallen from 0.3% in 2021-22 (626 cases) to just 0.02% (304 cases) between April and October this year.
Furthermore, there has been no major surge in the overall number of HIV cases in the general population. The HIV positivity rate in Maharashtra has remained largely stable since 2020. It was 0.37% in 2020-21 and, as of October this year, holds steady at 0.36%.
State Health Minister Prakash Abitkar attributed this success to dedicated efforts, revealing that Maharashtra was recently awarded as the best state by the National AIDS Control Organisation for "providing treatment and services to HIV-infected people." He explained, "Our Care Support and Treatment (CST) department conducts regular programme evaluations and review meetings with ART centres to analyse gaps in service quality, progress, and alignment with national targets. We have been able to achieve 95% improvements at these centres."
