NACO rejects HIV infection claim. Mr Feachem's claim was nonsense.

[Guest guest]

India rejects HIV infection claim

By Geeta Pandey. BBC News, Delhi

It is claimed that Aids is chiefly spread among sex workers

The Indian government has dismissed a claim by an Aids expert that

the country now has the most HIV-positive patients in the world.

The claim was made by Feachem of the Global Fund to Fight

Aids. He says figures showing India having fewer cases than South

Africa are wrong.

The UN says South Africa has 5.3 million people infected with the

HIV/Aids virus.

The government in Delhi says there are 5.1 million cases in India.

However, independent experts say the number of people infected in

India could be anywhere between 2.5 million to 8.5 million - because

of the lack of reliable data here in relation to the HIV pandemic.

HIV/Aids is a serious problem [in India]. We are aware of the

gravity of the situation and we have programmes to deal with it

SY Qureshi, National Aids Control Organisation

India's government-controlled National Aids Control Organisation

(Naco) chief SY Qureshi told the BBC that Mr Feachem's claim

was " nonsense " .

" Our [Aids] surveillance systems are certified by the World Health

Organisation, UN agency UNAids and the Indian Council of Medical

Research [iCMR].

" We stand by our figure of 5.1 million [infections], " Mr Qureshi

said.

Mr Feachem, who is the executive director of Global Fund to Fight

Aids, said in Paris on Tuesday that the epidemic in India was

spreading rapidly and that nothing was being done to stop it.

Mr Qureshi strongly rejected his comments.

" HIV/Aids is a serious problem [in India]. We are aware of the

gravity of the situation and we have programmes to deal with it, " he

said.

But Indian and international groups working to prevent HIV/Aids have

questioned the official figure of India having 5.1 million

infections.

Anjali Gopalan of the Naz Foundation, an non-government organisation

working with HIV-infected people, said official figures did not look

reliable.

" We have seen the numbers of the infected grow rapidly. Each and

every confirmed case hides at least two more. This means the number

of infected could be as high as 15 million, " she said.

The Global Fund to Fight Aids has committed more than three billion

dollars to 300 programmes in 127 countries for combating HIV/Aids,

TB and malaria.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4463899.stm