HIV/AIDS scare among troopers in northeast

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HIV/AIDS scare among troopers in northeast

By Syed Zarir Hussain, Indo-Asian News Service

Imphal, Nov 30 (IANS) Thousands of paramilitary personnel engaged in

anti-insurgency operations in India's northeast are undergoing blood

screenings after a large number were struck by HIV.

An official spokesperson said 10,500 personnel of the Central Reserve

Police Force (CRPF) deployed in Nagaland and Manipur have over the

past six months got their blood samples tested to rule out HIV.

Authorities and experts attribute promiscuous sex as the main reason

for contracting the virus. 'We are taking the problem very seriously

and hence got blood samples screened for 100 percent of the forces

deployed in the two states,' S.P. Singh, additional deputy inspector

general of the CRPF, told IANS.

Local newspapers in Manipur quoting CRPF Inspector General Sunil

Kumar Jain said 40 soldiers have tested HIV-positive after the

voluntary blood screening.

'The percentage found HIV-positive is very negligible although there

is no room for complacency as this is a silent killer,' Singh said,

refusing to disclose the number.

An estimated 100,000 soldiers and paramilitary personnel are deployed

in the rugged jungles of the northeast against some 30 guerrilla

groups waging war in the region.

There are no official estimates on the number of HIV-positive

security personnel deployed in the northeast.

The Assam Rifles, another premier paramilitary force of 55,000 in the

northeast, have reported some 180 HIV cases. The first HIV-positive

Assam Rifles soldier was detected in 1992.

Since then, 32 Assam Rifles personnel have died of AIDS and 180 are

in serious condition at two treatment camps.

'We have sounded a health alert after random blood screening

projected an alarming trend of men infected with HIV,' an Assam

Rifles commander said. The Border Security Force (BSF) has reported

94 men contracting HIV.

'All we can say is that we have about 94 of our personnel who tested

HIV-positive during random blood screening across India including the

northeast. We cannot give a break up region wise,' a BSF official

said.

The threat of more soldiers dying to HIV-AIDS than to bullets has led

the army and paramilitary authorities in the region to launch a

massive HIV awareness drive by distributing health literature and

organising lectures on how to keep safe, besides making it mandatory

to provide free condoms in all battalions.

'The number of men having HIV/AIDS in army and other paramilitary

units in the northeast could be a matter of serious concern. We are

aware of the problem and hence involved in regular health and

awareness camps to educate all the ranks,' army spokesperson Col.

Narender Singh told IANS.

'In most cases we have found soldiers mingling with the locals and

then going for unprotected sex to fight stress and fatigue,' said

S.I. Ahmed, chairperson of the AIDS Prevention Society, a community

healthcare group in Assam.

'Life away from families for a long duration is one of the reasons. I

have scores of military personnel coming to our clinic for voluntary

counselling and testing.'

India accounts for about 5.2 million HIV-positive people, second only

to South Africa. The northeast has been declared as one of the

country's high-risk zones with close to 100,000 people infected with

the virus.

Copyright Indo-Asian News Service

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