GUWAHATI, India, Dec 1 (AFP) - Thousands of people in India's northeast, where the large number of drug users has sparked fears of a worsening AIDS epidemic, pledged Saturday to step up the fight against HIV by spreading awareness about the dreaded virus.
Schoolchildren, health workers and rehabilitated drug addicts marched through the streets in the seven northeastern states -- Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura -- to mark World AIDS Day and educate the public about prevention and treatment for the HIV-positive.
"The slogan this year is 'I Care, Do You?', meaning people have a tremendous role to play in providing care and support to people living with AIDS," Assam Health Minister Bhumidhar Barman said.
"We all need to wake up and put a spirited challenge to combat the scourge," Barman told AFP.
Some 3.5 million Indians are HIV positive, although unofficial estimates put the figure at closer to five million. The figure gives India the largest HIV-positive population after South Africa.
While the seven northeastern states have a total of 100,000 HIV-positive patients, authorities fear the disease may spread because of the region's acute drug problem.
India's northeast borders the heroin-producing "Golden Triangle" of Laos, Myanmar and Thailand and has high rates of intravenous drug use -- a key cause of HIV infection here.
The seven states account for less than three per cent of India's one billion-plus population but are home to more than 30 percent of the country's total intravenous drug users, according to various estimates.
"Sharing of needles by drug users in the northeast rather than promiscuous sex has led to a quantum increase in the number of AIDS cases," said S.I. Ahmed, chairman of the Assam AIDS Prevention Society.
"But today, the drug users are passing the infection to the general population in the region through their sex partners. HIV transmission rates from mother to child is also assuming frightening proportions."
Chiranjeeb Kakoty, a local community health expert, said intravenous drug addicts "are being advised to use bleached or disposable needles or take drugs orally to minimize the risk level".
Health workers also emphasized the need to educate sex workers following surveys that suggest most prostitutes in the region were engaging in unprotected sex.
The AIDS Prevention Society, a community health organization in Assam, has launched Project Sakhi (Friend), a peer-based scheme aimed at increasing awareness about HIV among prostitutes.
"We need to reach out to the sex workers in a planned manner to keep the AIDS time bomb from exploding in the region," Ahmed said.
Despite the efforts of non-governmental organizations and pressure groups, government agencies in the region have so far not managed to curb drug addiction or prostitution.
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