Dec 1 : In Assam, eight hundred and five AIDS-positive patients have been identified till last month. Of these, 609 are males and 196 are females. The number of HIV positive cases in the State has touched two thousand nine hundred eighteen. 33 AIDS-affected people have died in the State within last one year.
State AIDS Control Society’s Project Director J. Shyamala Rao said that the Society has decided to open five more anti-retroviral therapies (ART) centres in the vulnerable spots in addition to the three already existing ones. Massive awareness drives have also been launched through mobile theatres, street plays and publicity campaigns to educate the people against the dreaded disease all over the State involving non-governmental agencies.