Guwahati, Feb 25 (IANS) Under Mission AIDS Suraksha, India aims to achieve HIV control by December 1, 2027, the Director General of the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), Rakesh Gupta, said here on Wednesday.
Addressing the inaugural session of the three-day review meeting of the Northeastern states on the implementation of the National AIDS and STI Control Programme (National AIDS and STI Control Programme) in Guwahati, Gupta emphasised that the Northeastern region remains a priority in the national HIV response, with 60 of the country’s 219 high-priority districts located in the region, excluding Sikkim.
He said that the Guwahati workshop marks the beginning of an intensive, region-focused review and action-planning exercise to accelerate progress in high-priority districts across the Northeast.
Gupta, who is also the Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), said the meeting aims to strengthen district-level planning and implementation strategies to fast-track achievement of national HIV control targets.
The state of Meghalaya is actively participating in the review, with focused deliberations on accelerating progress in its identified high-priority districts – East Jaintia Hills, East Khasi Hills, Ri Bhoi and West Jaintia Hills.
As part of intensified national efforts, eleven regional workshops titled ‘Suraksha Sankalp Karyashala’ are being organised across the country during February-March 2026, covering all 219 high-priority districts.
The Guwahati workshop marks the first in the series and covers 60 identified high-priority districts across the seven Northeastern states: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura.
During the three-day meeting, district-level representatives are deliberating on customised strategies to enable their districts to achieve Surakshit Plus status by meeting the global 95-95-99 targets.
These targets ensure that 95 per cent of all people living with HIV know their HIV status, 95 per cent of those diagnosed receive sustained antiretroviral therapy (ART), and 99 per cent of those on treatment achieve viral suppression.
The meeting is undertaking a comprehensive review of NACP implementation across the Northeastern region, with a particular focus on strengthening district-level ownership, assessing micro-level performance indicators, identifying implementation gaps, and developing corrective action plans aligned with local epidemiological trends.
Senior officials, including Project Directors of the State AIDS Control Societies and programme leaders from across the region, are participating in the review. The meeting is being conducted in three batches to facilitate focused, state-specific deliberations.
The deliberations are expected to culminate in clear, actionable roadmaps tailored to each state’s epidemiological profile, reinforcing the government of India’s sustained commitment to ending HIV/AIDS as a public health threat and advancing the objectives of Mission AIDS Suraksha.
–IANS
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