As the first few cases of HIV infection of the country were reported in 1986 the Manipur State Government also took   serious note of the problem and initiated a series of important measures to tackle the epidemic. With the formation of the   high-powered National AIDS Committee in 1986 and as it launched its National AIDS Control Programme in 1987, Manipur   immediately set up a State AIDS Committee under the chairmanship of Chief Minister. State AIDS Cell was established in   the State Health Directorate under the supervision of one medical officer.
 AIDS has emerged as a new and serious public health emergency in Manipur.  The first HIV positive case in Manipur was   reported in February 1990 from the blood samples of October 1989 among a cluster of Injecting Drug Users (IDUs). The   State AIDS Policy was adopted by the State Government on 3rd October, 1996 and became the first State in India to have   a State AIDS Policy. The Manipur State AIDS Control Society (MACS) was formed and registered in March, 1998 and   since   then the Society has been implementing the AIDS Control Programme in the State.
 Manipur is one of the six high prevalence states in India with HIV prevalence rate among pregnant women attending ANC   being 1.4% (Sentinel Surveillance 2006). Manipur with hardly 0.2% of India’s population is contributing nearly 8% of   India’s total HIV positive cases. More and more interior and hill areas are affected and yet to be covered. Estimated   cases   of HIV positives among the general population in the state are around 40,000. However, since the intervention   project  among the IDUs (RIAC project) has been taken up successfully by Manipur SACS, HIV prev-alence rate among   the   IDUs  shows a  declining trend from 1998 onwards with a sero-prevalence rate of 72.78 in 1998, 66.02 in 2000,  56%   in   2001,  39.6% in  2002, 30.7 % in 2003, 21% in 2004,24.1 in 2005 and 19.8 in 2006. Though the   sero- prevalence  rate  in   Manipur  has been  brought down to 19.8% in 2006, it is still the highest in the world. The   projected target is to bring   down the  rate to below  5% by 2008.                
        In Manipur, out of 2,42,969 blood samples screened up to March 2008 the total number of HIV positives is 29,147.  Among  them, 7,513 are women. As per Sentinel Surveillance report 2006, the rate of HIV prevalence among the various   categories of population is as follows:

• Injecting Drug Users:                                       - 19.8 per cent.
• Female Sex Workers:                                      - 11.6 per cent
• Men having sex with men:                                - 12.4 per cent
• Pregnant women:                                           - 1.4 per cent
• STD patients:                                                  - 4.8 per cent.