PANAJI
HIV has penetrated a younger population demographic in Goa over the last couple of years for the first time in 14 years, official data has revealed, worrying the hierarchy in the Health department.
In 2023, for the first time in 14 years, HIV affected people in the 25-34 year age group the most. Previously, the 35 to 49 year age group was the most affected for 13 straight years between 2009 and 2022.
Worse, the number of people infected with HIV in the 15 to 24 year age group is higher in 2023 than any of the 14 years between 2009 to 2022.
Senior health officials said of the 260 found infected by HIV in 2023, 97 (37.3 per cent) were in the 25 to 34 year age group. The 35-49 year age group accounted for 85 (32.7 per cent) of the cases and 32 (12.3 per cent) were in the younger 15 to 24 year age group.
What is worrying, the officials said is that the 2023 statistic shows that nearly half of the number of people infected with HIV in Goa were young people 15 to 34 year-olds.
In past years from 2009 to 2022, the most affected population demographic of the State were the middle-aged 35 to 49 year-olds, accounting for between 35 to 48 per cent of those affected in each of those 14 years.
Officials said in percentage terms, the increase in HIV incidence among the 25 to 34 year-olds is about 16.3 per cent in 2023. In the younger 15-24 year-olds the increase is over 6 per cent.
In the middle-aged 35 to 49 years population demographic, incidence of HIV has in fact dropped by a significant 13.2 per cent.
Officials cited ‘unprotected sex’ as the leading cause for HIV infection in Goa.
Between 2009 and 2023, approximately 90-96 per cent of HIV infection was due to ‘unprotected sex’ which has spiked to 97.7 per cent in 2023, the highest in 14 years.
Health officials also noted that with social media penetration, the increasing use of dating apps in the past few years which facilitate meeting of strangers, mostly for sex, may be one of the reasons for the increase in HIV infection among the young.
Efforts are on to design awareness campaigns targeted at dating app users on the high risk of contracting HIV through unprotected sex, the health officials said.
