Online Desk: Bangladesh has reported a record number of 1,276 new cases of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and 266 deaths from the disease in 2023, the highest since tallies began in 1989.

AIDS is a chronic, potentially life-threatening condition caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). By damaging the immune system, HIV interferes with the body’s ability to fight infection and disease.

The number of total AIDS patients stood at 10,984 and the death toll from the disease rose to 2,086 so far, according to the data recorded by the Directorate General of Health Services under its Tuberculosis-Leprosy and AIDS STD Programme.

The original number of people infected with HIV so far in Bangladesh is estimated to be over 15,000, said Professor Md Mahfuzur Rahman, line director of the AIDS, STD Programme in Bangladesh who launched the report at an event marking World AIDS Day in Dhaka on Wednesday.

Around 1,118 people among the 1,276 AIDS patients in 2023 are Bangladeshi.

The rest are Myanmar Rohingya refugees residing in camps in Cox’s Bazar.

The directorate recorded the highest number of 342 patients in Dhaka, 246 in Chattogram, 175 in Rajshahi, 141 in Khulna, 79 in Barishal, 40 in Mymensingh and 34 in Rangpur among the Bangladeshis infected with the disease.

Among the patients, 850 are male, 278 are female and nine are from the third-gender community.

Bangladesh has made progress in preventing numerous diseases, but it is still unable to control AIDS, said Professor Dr ABM Khurshid Alam, the director general at DGHS, calling on authorities to prioritise the prevention and treatment of the disease.

“The people infected with the virus cannot be left behind as the government provides all kinds of medicines and treatments for AIDS out of cost.”

Male sex workers, men who have sex with men, and drug abusers are identified as the key populations contracting AIDS because they have the highest risk of transmitting HIV, the report said.