UN Says India May Overtake S.Africa in AIDS

[Guest guest]

FROM: MIAMI HERALD: Posted on Thu, May. 02, 2002

 

UN Says India May Overtake S.Africa in AIDS CasesBY SUGITA KATYAL

NEW DELHI - (Reuters) - India will have the largest number of people in the world infected with HIV/AIDS in a few years, overtaking South Africa, if steps are not taken to curb the deadly disease, UNAIDS chief Piot said on Thursday.

"In terms of absolute numbers, India will overtake South Africa," Piot, executive director of UNAIDS, told Reuters.

"In a few years time, India will have the largest number of people with HIV in the world. But in relative terms, I don't believe India will go the way that South Africa goes.

"Ten years from now, there will be tens of millions infected in India," he said. UNAIDS is a joint organization of various UN bodies and the World Bank fighting the disease.

There are 3.8 million people infected with HIV/AIDS in India, second only to South Africa, where 4.7 million people are infected.

But while 20 percent of South African adults are infected with HIV/AIDS, the equivalent figure in India is just 0.7 percent, UN data shows.

Although the Indian government has launched a nationwide program to stop the disease from spreading among its more than one billion people, it faces a social and cultural battle because of the enormous stigma attached to the disease that is carried in the blood and other bodily fluids.

AIDS has spread from traditionally high-risk groups such as prostitutes, drug users and homosexuals to large rural swathes and urban areas with huge migrant populations.

Piot said that many Indians suffered from the misconception they were safe because AIDS only strikes certain categories of people.

"For a long time, there's been a denial that the problem is there or that it can affect all levels of the population. There's still a perception that it is something for the very poor, homosexual men and drug users. People say 'I'm not like that, therefore I can't get it.' That's a very dangerous illusion." "Also, the shame, stigma and discrimination associated with it make it very hard to talk about it, to be open about it, to be explicit about the messages. But I don't see how you can stop AIDS if you don't talk about sex," Piot said.

BEGINNING OF AN AIDS EPIDEMIC

A report by UNAIDS says AIDS has become the fourth biggest killer worldwide -- with heart disease the first. About 40 million people carry the virus, the report says.

Piot said he was particularly concerned about some parts of India such as western Maharashtra state where two percent of the adult population were HIV-positive and the northeast where 30 to 40 percent of injecting drug users have AIDS or the HIV virus.

"For them it's an epidemic. What we know from every country is that we're only at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic. It keeps spreading," he said.

Piot said some states such as Uttar Pradesh in the north and Bihar in the east were extremely vulnerable because they have a large migrant population.

Piot, one of the discovers of the Ebola virus in Zaire in 1976, said governments, religious leaders and other prominent people such as movie stars and sportsmen could play a big role in fighting AIDS across the world.

"No money can replace leadership. You can have all the dollars in the world but it's leadership at the top level that is important. And as long as AIDS is considered a matter for doctors only, we can forget it."

"It's very important to break the silence around it. I hope that one day influential religious leaders, cricket players, film stars speak out about AIDS and are not ashamed to have their names associated with AIDS."Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: Click Here