Tamil Nadu Hits 95‑95‑95 HIV Target, Halves State Prevalence Since 2010

Tamil Nadu has met the National AIDS Control Programme‑Phase V 95‑95‑95 target for 2026‑27, with 95% of people living with HIV aware of their status, on antiretroviral therapy and virally suppressed. ## What Happened The health ministry announced that HIV prevalence fell from 0.40% in 2010 to 0.19% in 2023, a drop of half, thanks to intensive awareness drives by the state government and NGOs. Currently 1,63,151 individuals receive treatment. The state operates 311 integrated counselling and testing centres funded by the National AIDS Control Organisation and 403 more supported by the National Health Mission, plus 2,656 testing points at primary health centres and government hospitals. Free testing, prevention and treatment run through ART centres in 58 government hospitals, 28 private medical college hospitals and 172 linked centres. A network of 104 NGOs works with sex workers, men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs, trans persons, heavy‑vehicle drivers and migrants to change behaviour. Mother‑to‑child transmission of HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B is being tackled with prophylactic ART doses for newborns of HIV‑positive mothers. Monthly financial aid for children affected by HIV/AIDS has been raised to ₹3,000 for double‑orphan HIV‑positive children, ₹2,000 for single‑orphan, and ₹1,500 for other categories, with an extra ₹1.21 crore allocated from November. Red Ribbon Clubs now operate in 2,329 colleges, and life‑skills education reaches students in classes VIII, IX and XI across 9,830 schools. Health Secretary Darez Ahamed and TANSACS project director R. Seethalakshmi attended the event. ## Context Achieving the 95‑95‑95 benchmark puts Tamil Nadu on track for its goal of an HIV‑free state by 2030 and shows how coordinated government‑NGO efforts can sharply cut infection rates.