KHUJAND, June 17, 2015, Asia-Plus -- An enlarged meeting of medical workers of Sughd province has been held in Khujand to discuss the current HIV situation in the area.

The meeting was attended by Ms. Nazira Ghaffori, the deputy governor of Sughd.

An official source at the Sughd AIDS Center says issues related to the current HIV situation in the province and ways to solve the problem were a major topic of the meeting.

The meeting participants, in particular, noted that there are ten families in Sughd whose all members are HIV sufferers.  Each of these families reportedly consists of 6-7 members. 

The number of HIV sufferers in Sughd has reportedly increased by 10 percent over the first five months of this year.

According to the Sughd AIDS/HIV Prevention Center, 144 new cases of HIV infections has been registered in the area in January-May this year, bringing a total number of HIV sufferers in Sughd to 1,428.

In January-May 2014, 97 new HIV sufferers were registered in northern Tajikistan.

The first case of HIV infection was reportedly registered in Sughd province in 2001 and 376 HIV sufferers have died in the province since that time.