HIV treatment dropouts fall 57% in Maharashtra, 611 cases recorded in 2025-26

Mumbai: In Maharashtra, 611 people living with HIV (PLHIV) were “lost to follow-up and treatment” in 2025-26, according to data available through RTI from National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO).

This marks a 57% drop as compared to 2024-2025.

NACO defines “lost to follow-up” as a patient who hasn’t made clinic visits or taken medicines distributed for free for a period of between three and six months. The corresponding number for India was 9,200, said south Mumbai resident Chetan Kothari, who filed the RTI. “Lost to follow-up” is a significant hurdle to eliminating diseases because it could lead to more deaths, increased transmission of the disease and the development of drug-resistant strains. The World Health Organisation aims to end the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by 2030.

“In HIV, where the patient get free medicine and care, why should there be a dropout at all? Ideally, there should be zero dropout. Even if it is present, it should be minimum, in one or two digits,’’ said health activist Ganesh Acharya. Activists fear there are still many PLHIV who have not been brought under the ambit of free treatment.

There are approximately 40,000 PLHIV who have been registered with the Mumbai AIDS Control Society to receive free antiretroviral treatment.

“Why else would the govt not have released HIV-related death data for three to four years now,’’ asked Acharya.

However, a senior official with a local AIDS control authority said that drop-out rate decreased in 2025-26. As against 611 dropouts in 2025-26, the city registered 1,450 dropouts in 2024-25, a 57% drop within a year. Kothari’s RTI has revealed a similar trend for all-India: as against 9,200 dropouts in 2025-26, the corresponding figure for 2024-25 was 20,312.

A city public health official said that NACO has drawn up a series of interventions to ensure people don’t drop out of treatment. “We have strengthened counselling for people. We regularly hold workshops with role plays to communicate the need to continue treatment,’’ said the official, adding that age-specific interventions for, say, adolescents or senior citizens, are regularly organised.

However, a public health expert said that data in India is often revised over months. “So, the 611 dropouts in Mumbai could be revised with data trickling in from various centres over the next six months. The number could be huge then,’’ he added.