Representative image

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu may have moved out of the shad ow of being a high-prev alence state for HIVAIDS, but in what could be a blot in its success story , death among those living with the infection has gone up in the last three years, reports Ekatha Ann.

Data sourced by TOI shows that despite the decline in the prevalence of the infection, the crisis is far from over -4,397 people infected with HIV had died in 2016, pushing up the average increase in the number of deaths by 70% from what it was till 2013.

Experts point that several national surveys, including the National Family Health Survey and the District Health Surveys , have pointed to low HIVAIDS awareness among people which could have led to an increase in late referrals, high dropout rates and poor treatment outcomes.It could also be because of a spike in death among those diagnosed with AIDS more than adecade ago, officials say.

