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Mumbai: The Mumbai District AIDS Control Society (MDACS) is expanding its efforts to promote safe practices, including a flagship dating app initiative that reached nearly 800 individuals and a counselling programme for massage parlour workers. Now, it is targeting tattoo parlours to ensure safety standards are followed.
Ahead of World AIDS Day on Dec 1, data released Friday by MDACS reveals that 75% of the 3,383 newly diagnosed HIV-AIDS patients in Mumbai between 2023 and 2024 are aged 15 to 49, with 31% being women. A total of 7,29,309 HIV tests were conducted this year, up from 6,48,870 last year. The positivity rate, however, remained unchanged at 0.5%.
Ganesh Acharya, a TB-HIV survivor and activist, questioned the effectiveness of MDACS’s approach. “The problem is they’re testing the same population, which is why the results remain consistent. Civil society groups estimate that 80,000 people are living with HIV in Mumbai, but MDACS hasn’t reached them,” he said.
MDACS officials defended their strategy. Dr Vijay Karanjkar, additional project director, noted some of the initiatives began only about a year ago. The tattoo parlour outreach, he said, is still in its early stages but is already showing promise. “We are in talks with a few parlour owners to conduct training workshops for staff,” he said, adding that the initiative started after reports linking HIV cases to a tattoo parlour in Uttar Pradesh.
The dating app initiative also had some success, helping at least 40 individuals become aware of their HIV status. However, it faced setbacks when several MDACS counsellors were banned from the platform. “We lost contact with some people we were counselling and had to create new profiles,” Dr Karanjkar said.
A further challenge is the issue of lost-to-follow-up patients. MDACS reported that 40,658 people living with HIV-AIDS (PLHIV) are linked to antiretroviral therapy (ART) centres. Of those, viral load testing was done on 38,818, with 98% found to be virally suppressed. The gap between the total PLHIV and those tested highlights a lost-to-follow-up rate of 4.53%, or 1,840 individuals, according to Acharya.
Statewide, 20,904 new HIV diagnoses were reported during the same period, including cases linked to transmission in prisons. Specific data on prison population was unavailable at the time of publication.
Ahead of World AIDS Day on Dec 1, data released Friday by MDACS reveals that 75% of the 3,383 newly diagnosed HIV-AIDS patients in Mumbai between 2023 and 2024 are aged 15 to 49, with 31% being women. A total of 7,29,309 HIV tests were conducted this year, up from 6,48,870 last year. The positivity rate, however, remained unchanged at 0.5%.
Ganesh Acharya, a TB-HIV survivor and activist, questioned the effectiveness of MDACS’s approach. “The problem is they’re testing the same population, which is why the results remain consistent. Civil society groups estimate that 80,000 people are living with HIV in Mumbai, but MDACS hasn’t reached them,” he said.
MDACS officials defended their strategy. Dr Vijay Karanjkar, additional project director, noted some of the initiatives began only about a year ago. The tattoo parlour outreach, he said, is still in its early stages but is already showing promise. “We are in talks with a few parlour owners to conduct training workshops for staff,” he said, adding that the initiative started after reports linking HIV cases to a tattoo parlour in Uttar Pradesh.
The dating app initiative also had some success, helping at least 40 individuals become aware of their HIV status. However, it faced setbacks when several MDACS counsellors were banned from the platform. “We lost contact with some people we were counselling and had to create new profiles,” Dr Karanjkar said.
A further challenge is the issue of lost-to-follow-up patients. MDACS reported that 40,658 people living with HIV-AIDS (PLHIV) are linked to antiretroviral therapy (ART) centres. Of those, viral load testing was done on 38,818, with 98% found to be virally suppressed. The gap between the total PLHIV and those tested highlights a lost-to-follow-up rate of 4.53%, or 1,840 individuals, according to Acharya.
Statewide, 20,904 new HIV diagnoses were reported during the same period, including cases linked to transmission in prisons. Specific data on prison population was unavailable at the time of publication.
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