KHUJAND, July 21, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- The number of HIV sufferers has increased in northern Tajikistan.

The number of people living with HIV in the northern Sughd province rose 19 percent in the year to June 30, 200, reaching 394 people, the chief of the Sughd counternarcotics directorate Fayzullo Abdulloyev remarked at a press conference in Khujand on July 20.  As of June 30, 2009, there were 320 officially registered HIV sufferers in the province.

“292 of the officially registered HIV sufferers in Sughd are men and 102 of them are women,” said Abdulloyev, “Of the total number of HIV sufferers registered in the province, 199 are injecting drug users (IDUs) and 92 others of 23 percent have contracted the infection through sexual contact.”