Hiv Cases on Rise in India

India has the third-highest number of people living with HIV in the world with 2.1 million Indians accounting for about four out of 10 people infected with the deadly virus in the Asia—Pacific region, according to a UN report.

India has the third largest HIV population in the world with approximately 2.1 million people suffering from it, but there are only eight lakh people who are undergoing Anti- Retroviral Therapy (ART) treatment, according to official data.

On World AIDS Day, Union Health Minister had sought the people's involvement to meet the global goals of zero new infection and death from HIV/AIDS. He had also stressed on raising awareness and boosting preventive methods as the key to the success of the mission.

However, the report notes that the programme has to customize its strategies to effectively address the emerging vulnerabilities and adapt them to suit the requirements of different geographical regions.

The report by UNAIDS, the United Nations programme on HIV/AIDS, said that 19 million of the 35 million people living with the virus globally do not know their HIV—positive status and so ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 will require smart scale—up to close the gap.

The number of HIV patients has registered an increase in states where it was earlier being considered to be non-prevalent with 10 such states together accounting for 57 per cent of new infections in 2012.

According to a report compiled by National Aids Control Organization ( NACO) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), although HIV prevalence declined at the national level, a reverse trend was seen in certain states like Odisha, Jharkhand, Punjab, Assam and Uttarakhand where HIV prevalence earlier was considered to be low.

The number of HIV patients has registered an increase in Bihar, one of the 10 low-prevalence states.

According to a report compiled by National AIDS Control Organization (Naco) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), although HIV prevalence declined at the national-level, a reverse trend was seen in Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, Punjab, Assam and Uttarakhand, where HIV prevalence earlier was considered to be low.

Titled "India HIV Estimates-2012", the report points out that the 10 low-prevalence states of Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Bengal, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Punjab and Uttarakhand together account for 57 per cent of new infections.

"On the other hand, the six high prevalence states account for only 31 per cent of the 1.16 lakh estimated new infections in 2011 among adults," says the report.

These states are Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Manipur, Nagaland and Tamil Nadu.

Indicating a positive trend in these states, it mentions that the adult HIV prevalence declined in these states during the period of 2007-2011. "India has done well overall but if you look state by state, there are varying trends," said UNAIDS India country co-ordinator Oussama Tawil.

Experts attributed the rise in the number of HIV-infected people in the state to better test facilities. According to them, awareness about the disease has also increased and more people are coming for pathological investigations.

The first—ever UNAIDS ‘Gap Report’ said after sub—Saharan Africa, the region with the largest number of people living with HIV is Asia and the Pacific.

At the end of 2013, there were an estimated 4.8 million people living with HIV across the region.

Six countries - China, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam - account for more than 90 per cent of the people living with HIV in the region.

“India has the third largest number of people living with HIV in the world — 2.1 million at the end of 2013 — and accounts for about 4 out of 10 people living with HIV in the region,” the report said.

It said HIV treatment coverage is only 36 per cent in India, where 51 per cent of AIDS—related deaths occur.

In India, the numbers of new HIV infections declined by 19 per cent, yet it still accounted for 38 per cent of all new HIV infections in the region.

The proportions of people who do not have access to antiretroviral therapy treatment are 64 per cent in India.

In Asia and the Pacific, the number of AIDS—related deaths fell by 37 per cent between 2005 and 2013, the report said.

India recorded a 38 per cent decline in AIDS—related deaths between 2005 and 2013. During this period, there was a major scale up of access to HIV treatment, it said.

At the end of 2013, more than 700,000 people were on antiretroviral therapy, the second largest number of people on treatment in any single country.

In India, HIV prevalence among female sex workers dropped from 10.3 per cent to 2.7 per cent but it increased in the states of Assam, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, the report said.

A look at the HIV prevalence among sex workers:

The estimated population size of sex workers is 868,000, of which 2.8 per cent is HIV—positive. In India, HIV prevalence among women who inject drugs was nearly twice that or more than the figures for their male counterparts, it said.

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