Mumbai, Jan 14: In the last five years, more than 6,800 People Living with HIV (PLHIV) have been lost to follow-up (LTFU) from Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) centres under the National AIDS and STD Control Programme (NACP) in Maharashtra. Data shows that in 2025, up to September, 833 registered patients discontinued treatment midway.
Awareness decline cited as key reason
Experts attribute this trend largely to declining public awareness programmes. Maharashtra, including Mumbai, continues to feature prominently in national data on PLHIV who have stopped treatment midway and failed to report to ART centres.
What LTFU means
In HIV and ART programmes, LTFU refers to patients who discontinue scheduled clinic visits and cannot be traced for a defined period—usually three to six months. It is a critical outcome indicator, highlighting gaps in patient retention and the challenges of maintaining lifelong treatment adherence.
Maharashtra’s share in national figures
Nationwide, 9,969 HIV patients are currently classified as LTFU, raising serious concerns about retention in HIV care. Maharashtra, excluding Mumbai, accounts for nearly 8% of the national burden. Every year, over 1,000 HIV patients in the state discontinue treatment.
In 2020–21, 1,045 PLHIV stopped treatment; the figure remained around 1,000 in 2021–22. It rose to 1,214 in 2022–23, 1,290 in 2023–24, and 1,450 in 2024–25.
In 2025–26, up to September alone, 833 patients have already dropped out. Altogether, between 2020 and September 2025, a total of 6,832 HIV patients in Maharashtra have stopped treatment.
Other states also affected
After Maharashtra, other states such as Punjab, Assam and Delhi have also reported consistently high numbers of PLHIV discontinuing treatment.
Zero LTFU in smaller regions
In contrast, Dadra and Nagar Haveli—part of the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu—with a population of 5.75 lakh, has reported zero cases of LTFU. Sikkim, with a population of 6.1 lakh, has also reported zero LTFU cases.
Activist calls it governance failure
Calling the situation a failure of governance, social activist Ganesh Acharya, who works for the welfare of HIV patients, said that if more than 5% of HIV-positive patients discontinue treatment, it reflects a serious lapse by the government.
He noted that public awareness about HIV has declined significantly compared to earlier years, largely due to reduced funding. “Earlier, HIV awareness campaigns were visible everywhere—from roads to railway premises. Today, they have almost disappeared,” he said.
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Officials cite multiple factors
Public health officials, however, attribute the high LTFU numbers in Mumbai and Maharashtra to multiple factors, including inter-district and inter-state migration, HIV-related stigma, long working hours, mental health challenges, and silent transfers of patients to private healthcare facilities or other ART centres without formal documentation.
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