Govt estimates India's HIV population at 51lakh by Dec

May 26, 2005

TIMES NEWS NETWORK [FRIDAY, MAY 27, 2005 01:53:11 AM]

NEW DELHI: THE government on Thursday said that by December `05, it

estimates that 28,000 more people would be infected with the HIV

virus, taking the total number of patients to 51.3 lakh. This

represents about half a per cent of the country's over one billion

population.

The most vulnerable are migrant workers, attendees at clinics for

pre-natal care & sexually transmitted diseases and commercial sex

workers. Migrant workers, including truck drivers, account for over

5% of all the infected. In absolute terms, such a number could upset

the logistics businesses of smaller countries.

Health minister Dr Anbumani Ramdoss told reporters that this is only

a " marginal " increase, even as the government is on its toes to

arrest the spread of HIV. He said that 100 hospitals and non-

governmental organisations will distribute anti-retroviral drugs for

patients by the year-end.

He also said the recent comment by Feacham, executive

director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, that India could overtake

South Africa — it has 53 lakh HIV/AIDS cases — is based on personal

belief rather than concrete data such as growth rates. In 1998,

India had 34.7 lakh patients.

The estimate, based on a nation-wide surveillance, classify AP,

Karnataka, Maharashtra, Manipur, Nagaland and Tamil Nadu as being

among the most vulnerable states. Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar,

Chattisgarh and Delhi have been identified as being low-risk states.

The minister also said that the prices of AIDS drugs won't rise in

the product patent regime as 11 of the 12 anti-retroviral drugs

cannot be patented. He said the government plans to review the work

of various state agencies' performance on AIDS initiative.

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