Under Mission AIDS Suraksha, India aims to attain HIV control by 1 December 2027, coinciding with World AIDS Day, said Dr. Rakesh Gupta, Additional Secretary & Director General, National AIDS Control Organisation, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW), during his address at the inaugural session of the three-day Review Meeting of the Northeastern States on the implementation of the National AIDS and STI Control Programme (NACP) in Guwahati.

As part of intensified efforts to achieve the targets under NACP by this deadline, eleven regional workshops titled Suraksha Sankalp Karyashala are being organised across the country during February–March 2026. These workshops will cover all 219 high-priority districts and aim to sensitise key stakeholders at the State and district levels to accelerate progress towards ending AIDS as a public health threat. The first of these regional workshops begins in Guwahati today. The three-day deliberations will focus on reviewing the implementation of NACP in the seven Northeastern States—Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura—and will cover 60 identified high-priority districts in the region.

In his address, Dr. Rakesh Gupta stated that the Northeastern States remain a priority in the national HIV response. Of the 219 high-priority districts identified nationwide, 60 are from the seven Northeastern States (excluding Sikkim), underscoring the need for intensified and context-specific interventions, he said. He further added that the Guwahati workshop marks the beginning of an intensive, region-focused review and action-planning exercise aimed at accelerating progress in high-priority districts across the Northeast, including Cachar, Dibrugarh, Kamrup Metro, Nagaon, Nalbari and Sivasagar in Assam; East Siang, Lower Dibang Valley, Namsai, Papun Pare and Tirap in Arunachal Pradesh and East Jaintia Hills, East Khasi Hills, Ri Bhoi and West Jaintia Hills in Meghalaya.

He stated that during the three-day meeting in Guwahati, representatives from various districts will deliberate and prepare action plans and strategies to enable their districts to achieve Surakshit Plus status by meeting the 95-95-99 targets.

Dr. Gupta emphasised that through strengthened inter-departmental coordination, enhanced district-level ownership and mission-driven implementation, the regional workshops titled Suraksha Sankalp Karyashala seek to reinforce collective commitment towards achieving the 95-95-99 targets and advancing India’s goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat.

He said that the primary objective of the meetings is to strategise and accelerate progress towards achieving the global 95-95-99 targets, ensuring that 95% of all people living with HIV know their HIV status, 95% of those diagnosed receive sustained antiretroviral therapy (ART), and 99% 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 planning, assessing micro-level performance indicators, identifying implementation gaps, and developing corrective action plans tailored to local epidemiological trends.

Senior officials, including the Project Directors of the State AIDS Control Societies and programme leaders from Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura, are participating in the review, which is being conducted in three batches to enable focused, state-specific deliberations.

The deliberations are expected to culminate in clear, actionable roadmaps tailored to the epidemiological profile of each State, reinforcing the Government of India’s continued commitment to a robust and comprehensive response to HIV/AIDS in the Northeastern region.

 

KSY/BM

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