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By Shanika Sriyananda
The latest local study on HIV/AIDS estimates that over 3,600 people are living with HIV in Sri Lanka and the majority of them are in the 15 to 49 age group.
The 2014/2015 Annual Report of the National STD/AIDS Control Program of the Ministry of Health estimates that there were around 3,300 (ranges from 2,300-5,700) people living with HIV in 2014.
“Of these, 76 percent are to be in the Over 15 year age group and the majority of them are estimated to be males (69%). In 2014, 228 new HIV cases have been reported and over 80 percent of the reported new cases were due to heterosexual (male-female) 55 percent and 28 percent due to homosexual/bisexual (male-male),” the report, which is funded by UNAIDS, states.
“It is noteworthy that only a single case of mother to child transmission was reported during 2014,” it goes on to note.
According to the report, the majority of the cases were reported from the Western Province (56%) and less than 10% of HIV cases were reported from other provinces in the country.
“The highest number of HIV cases reported from the Western Province. Maybe most of the testing facilities are concentrated in and around the Western Province. The Colombo, Gampaha and Puttalam districts shows the highest HIV rates with over 10 HIV cases per 100,000 population of the district in 2014,” the report reveals.
However, the number of HIV positive persons reported per quarter of each year has doubled during the last six years.
The report also states that Sri Lanka has been categorised as a low level HIV epidemic country where HIV prevalence remains less than one percent of the country’s total population.
National STD/AIDS Control Programme Director Dr. Sisira Liyanage told the Daily FT that 170 new cases of HIV had been reported up to September 2015.
He said that since the first case of AIDS was reported in Sri Lanka in 1987, over 357 people have died of AIDS and in 2013 93 people died of AIDS.
According to Dr. Liyanage, 707 HIV positive cases were reported from the Colombo District while 362, 109 and 96 HIV positives cases had been reported so far from Gampaha, Kandy and Kurunegala respectively. The number of people living with HIV in Jaffna is 56.
“We have found more HIV positive cases from the Jaffna District this year compared to last year. This is mainly because we have commenced testing for HIV in Jaffna,” Dr. Liyanage said.
UNAIDS Country Manager for Sri Lanka Dr. Dayanath Ranatunga said that 1,732 people had been diagnosed with HIV but only 825 HIV positive individuals went to clinics for treatment.
