Will the Minister of HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE be pleased to state:
(a) whether the Government is aware that as per the report titled: ‘Magnitude of Substance Use in India, 2019’, there are an estimated 8.5 lakh persons in the country who inject drugs, if so, the details thereof;
(b) whether such persons are at risk of acquiring and transmitting life-threatening blood borne diseases like HIV, Hepatitis B, and C; and
(c) if so, the steps being taken by the Government in this regard?
ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND
FAMILY WELFARE
(SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)
(a) & (b): As per the report commissioned by Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and published in 2019, there are estimated 8.5 lakh persons in the country who inject drugs.
However, all of them cannot be stated to be at risk of acquiring blood borne diseases like HIV, Hepatitis B, and C.
This is so, because the risk of transmission of HIV among those who inject drugs arises only in cases where they share needles & injecting paraphernalia with each other and in some cases also when such populations indulge in unsafe sexual practices.
(c): Under National AIDS Control Programme, harm reduction services are provided to Injecting Drugs Users (IDUs) registered under the programme at Targeted Intervention Projects and Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST) Clinics. Comprehensive package of services to IDUs includes provision of commodities like clean needles and syringes, drugs for treatment of STI, OST, clinical services like abscess management, behaviour change communication through regular HIV counselling and testing services along with mobilization of community by creating an enabling environment, all of which are directed towards preventing HIV transmission among these most-at-risk populations.
NACO also conducts ongoing mapping population and size estimation through community based organizations and Targeted Interventions so as to include new IDUs into the overall umbrella of providing comprehensive package of services to those who are at risk of acquiring HIV infection.
Under the National Viral Hepatitis Control Programme, support is made available under the National Health Mission to States for awareness generation, free diagnostics and drugs for treatment of Hepatitis C, lifelong management of Hepatitis B and vaccination of high risk groups against Hepatitis B, once they are screened and found negative for Hepatitis B infection.