World AIDS Day being celebrated in Nepal today

Published On: December 1, 2023 10:50 AM NPT By: Republica | @RepublicaNepal

More than 1,300 children in Nepal reported to be infected with HIV

KATHMANDU, Dec 1: Today, World AIDS Day is being celebrated in Nepal with various programs. The theme for this year's World AIDS Day, observed on December 1st annually, is ‘To end AIDS, Let Communities Lead.’

On the occasion of the 35th World AIDS Day, the Government of Nepal has organized various awareness programs.

The main objective of this year's World AIDS Day slogan is to provide leadership to the communities and involve them in ending AIDS worldwide. In other words, the slogan of this year's World AIDS Day has given a message to move the entire community forward to end AIDS by 2030, taking into account the alarming rates of HIV/AIDS infection and death observed in the past years.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), by the end of 2022, there are 39 million people infected with HIV worldwide. Among them, 37.7 million are adults over 15 years of age, while 1.3 million are newly infected. Of them, nearly 29 million have received AIDS treatment facilities, while 630,000 have died from AIDS-related health problems, among them 150,000 children have been infected by birth and children up to 14 years have died of HIV.

According to the 2020/21 report of the Department of Health Services, it is estimated that more than 31,000 children and more than 1,300 children under the age of 14 are living with HIV.

Among the most infected people in Nepal, the 15 to 49 years age group is found to be about 72 percent. 0.12 percent of adults in Nepal aged 15 to 49 years are newly and old HIV-infected. In the Far West, 226 people infected with HIV have died in 3 years. More than 19,000 people living with HIV/AIDS are taking antiretroviral drugs. In 2020/21, the number of sexually transmitted disease patients in Nepal was more than 12,000, while nearly 34,000 HIV/AIDS sufferers are taking antiretroviral therapy.

If the virus that destroys the human immune system (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) enters the body through any means, its growth and development in the blood is HIV infection. After HIV weakens the human body's ability to fight disease, AIDS is a condition in which any disease can attack and make a patient sick.