KATHMANDU: More than 85 per cent of the total HIV infection cases in the country have been found transmitted from unprotected sex, a study by the National Centre or AIDS and STD Control (NCASC) revealed.

At a programme organised by NCASC here on Tuesday, the Centre's Director Dr Tarun Paudel shared that those who used shared needle or syringe and sex workers from LGBT group, inmates, and those who are in foreign employment were at the high risk of HIV infection.

The programme was organised on the eve of the World AIDS Day, which is globally observed on December 1.

Furthermore, Dr Paudel stated that the HIV's risk was increasing in the country due to lack of awareness and failure to observe precautions.

According to him, around 2,263 people with HIV/AIDS are reported to lose their life to the infection on average in a year in Nepal while every year 1,331 new HIV patients are registered.

A statistics shows that there are around 39,397 persons living with HIV as of December 2015 while the number of people with HIV account to more than 30.67 million worldwide.

A total of 107 infants with HIV/AIDS were reported to have been born last year are undergoing treatment, according to the NCASC.