The number of HIV -infected people reached 213 in the 2011-12 fiscal year from 170 in 2010-11. “The number of people living with HIV increased significantly in the district this year,” said DPHO chief Dr Arjun Prasad Sapkota. He added that most of those infected are sex workers and migrant workers who returned home from foreign jobs. In addition to raising awareness on safe sex through health workers and providing medicines for those with HIV , the DPHO launched an orientation programme on preventing mother-to-child transmission of the disease at Dhulikhel Hospital on Wednesday.
The government has been distributing free antiretroviral drugs to the HIV -infected from 36 depots across the country. Available data show 6,483 people with HIV were taking the drug last year.