World Bank warns India over AIDS

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World Bank issues warning over Aids

By Swann in Washington

Published: July 1 2004 0:34 | Last Updated: July 1 2004 0:34

The World Bank has warned India and Russia about their lacklustre

response to the Aids epidemic ahead of a high-level summit on the

disease in Bangkok.

The bank said it would emphasise that inaction on the disease could

set back significantly the pace of development. It also announced a

$60m (?49m) programme to improve treatment of the disease in Ghana,

Burkina Faso and Mozambique.

Infection rates remain relatively low in India as a proportion of

the population - around 0.8 per cent of the population or 4.6m

people. But the bank said it expected India to take over from South

Africa as the country with the largest number of people carrying the

disease over the next few years.

" Even if the rate of prevalence seems low, the absolute number of

people is high, " said Praful Patel, the bank's vice-president for

south Asia. " If left unaddressed the proportion can rise very

rapidly. "

The bank said there was a danger in eastern Europe that the disease

could break out from marginalised groups - injecting drug users -

into the broader population.

" If more action is not taken, the disease can move through 'bridge

populations' such as sex workers and truck drivers, into the

mainstream, " said Armin Fidler, Aids specialist for Europe and

Central Asia. Bank estimates suggest that if the virus is unchecked

it will reduce economic growth in the countries of the former Soviet

Union by 0.5 percentage points a year up to 2020 and 1 percentage

point a year thereafter. While the price of anti-retroviral drugs to

treat Aids has fallen dramatically in African countries, it remains

high in Russia - with a year's supply costing around $10,000.

Bank officials have praised African leaders for decisive action to

tackle Aids over the past few years - holding up Uganda as an

example of what can be achieved. There the rates of infection have

been coming down for 12 years. The World Bank also praised Thailand,

which is hosting the conference on the disease between July 11 and

16, for its swift response to the disease in the 1990s.

They warned, however, that there remained a reluctance to tackle the

issue in other key countries.

" While the disease is confined to marginal groups, some policymakers

are reluctant to act, " said Hansen, manager of the bank's Aids

projects in Africa.

The World Bank has committed close to $1.7bn to Aids programmes over

the past few years, but problems in some recipient countries mean

that not all the money has been spent.

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