Lockdown
Although HIV infections via blood and blood products have decreased over the previous ten years, more than 700 persons were infected this way last year, indicating the need for tighter safety standards. According to information obtained under the RTI Act, 15,782 persons in India have gotten HIV through blood transfusions in the last decade.
In 2022-21, a Covid lockdown year, 716 people contracted HIV this way, a significant decrease from the 1,246 instances the previous year. Following an RTI request, the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) gave this information to Chandra Shekhar Gaur, a Neemuch-based activist.
“The information on HIV modalities of transformation has been recorded by ICTC counsellors from HIV-positive persons’ responses during pre-test/post-test counselling,” the National AIDS Control Organization noted in the same statement.
The positive aspect is that such infections have been steadily decreasing over time. Infected blood resulted in 2,431 HIV infections in 2011-12, dropping to 1,246 in 2-19-20 and 716 in 2020-21.
