India's Economic Growth Could Be Hindered by HIV/AIDS-Related Costs

March 18, 2005

India's Economic Growth Could Be Hindered by HIV/AIDS-Related Costs,

BusinessWeek Reports [Mar 16, 2005]

India's " booming " economy could " come crashing back to Earth " because of

HIV/AIDS, which is costing the country " billions " of dollars in lost

productivity and health care expenses, BusinessWeek reports. About

5.1 million HIV-positive people live in India, and the number could increase to

20 million by 2015, according to some HIV/AIDS experts. The disease is prevalent

primarily among commercial sex workers and their clients nationwide and among

injection drug users in northeast India near the Burmese border, according to

BusinessWeek.

India's HIV/AIDS prevalence rate is about 1%, but in some regions the rate is as

high as 4.5%, according to Ashok , director of Avahan, the Bill &

Melinda Gates Foundation's five-year, $200 million program to fight HIV/AIDS in

India (Serrill, BusinessWeek, 3/14). Avahan aims to increase condom use and

decrease the incidence of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases in

six Indian states.

The government currently spends about $146 million, or about 29 cents per

person, annually to fight HIV/AIDS, but Avahan estimates India needs to spend at

least $1 billion annually on HIV/AIDS programs. The government's funding amount

is not completely spent each year, and India prevents larger donations from

foreign organizations by insisting money come through its hands, although the

government has made an exception for the Gates Foundation (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS

Report, 2/3).

In addition to a shortfall of government funding, said challenges to

fighting the disease include a lack of interest from the business community, a

" sense of denial " of the problem, and a " staggering " amount of stigma and

prejudice attached to HIV-positive people, according to BusinessWeek. He said

that more HIV/AIDS education and " community mobilization " are needed to fight

the disease in India (BusinessWeek, 3/14). Source: Kaiser network

________________________

Greetings,

Phi Huynhdo

E-mail: <huynhdophi@...>

Recommended Posts