More Indian drug addicts contracting HIV virus

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by Change | 29 Mar 2010

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The HIV virus is spreading among those in need of drug addiction help in India.

Many people in need of drug addiction support in India are facing a second major challenge to their health: the HIV/Aids virus.

Recent figures have revealed there are 18,000 drug addicts in the country with the virus, although the share of infections compared with the general population is growing, dpa reports.

India's health ministry found that the prevalence of HIV among injecting drug users increased from 7.2 per cent in 2007 to 9.2 per cent in 2008, with officials believing this number to have grown further since.

Shabab Alam, who works at aid organisation Sharan, told the news provider that Aids is becoming more of an issue in the country.

"More and more addicts come to see us because they are afraid of getting infected," he commented.

"Therefore we offer not only medical services, but also counselling."

The Indian government has taken steps to combat the problem by including drug addiction treatment in its $2.4 billion (£1.6 billion) Aids control programme, NACP III.

Some 220 drug addiction facilities in the country now offer drug substitution programmes, whereby patients are given the option to swallow legal substitute drugs instead of injecting themselves with potentially dangerous illegal ones.

Last August, expressindia.com reported that more adolescents in the country were becoming addicted to drugs, with curiosity and peer pressure understood to be among the reasons for the increase.

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