Kapilvastu, December 11:

Twenty-two persons were killed and 256 were infected with sexually transmitted diseases (STD) and HIV/AIDS within the past three years in Kapilvastu district, according to a study carried out by the Nepal Family Planning Association, Kapilvastu branch.

No village among the 77 VDCs including district headquarters Taulihawa is free from STDs and HIV/AIDS, said branch manager of the association Sudhir Rai.

With increasing cases of STDs and HIV/AIDS, the association has launched free counselling and laboratory test services on HIV/AIDS in Krishnanagar, Maharajgunj and Taulihawa.

Psychologist with the association Rita Lamichhane said, “There are many cases in which HIV/AIDS has been infected to wives and children from the migrant workers returning home from India.”

Due to illiteracy, poverty and the lack of awareness, unsafe sex is also rampant in the district, she said, adding that only 29 per cent couples have been found to have been using condoms. The study also showed that 83 persons in the age group of 15 to 39 years have been infected with HIV/AIDS.

Among all HIV/AIDS infections, seven per cent were infected from sexual workers and 20 per cent through the use of syringes.

With a view to controlling the increasing cases of HIV/AIDS infection, the association held an interaction with local policy makers and social workers.

The study says stigma attached to HIV/AIDS infected patients continues to remain in the society and such patients still face social ostracism. It also suggested for strict legal provisions to discourage HIV/AIDS infected people from engaging themselves in sexual relationship with non-infected people. Though a national policy on STD and HIV/AIDS prevention was introduced some 12 years, no law governing the same has not been promulgated yet, even though the Supreme Court had recently issued a mandamus order to the government to promulgate the law.