AIDS 'could hit' India's growth

[Guest guest]

Aids 'could hit' India's growth

India's economy could suffer if the country fails to check the

spread of HIV and Aids, a new report says.

Economic growth currently at 8% could fall by nearly 1% if the

disease is not contained, it says.

But the head of India's main anti-Aids agency said the government's

prevention drive could help reverse this.

More than five million Indians are infected with HIV and the UN says

India now has more people with the virus than any other country in

the world.

" Economic growth could decline by 0.86 percentage points... and per

capita gross domestic product by 0.55 percentage points, " over a 14-

year period beginning in 2002, the National Council of Applied

Economic Research (NCAER), a government-funded body, said.

The growth of HIV infections can be reversed with the government

pushing an aggressive campaign

It said the government needed to spend more on prevention

programmes.

" It is time to see policy action against Aids as a growth-enhancing

policy endeavour, and, first and foremost, dedicate adequate

resources for this purpose, " the report says.

Increased poverty

The report identifies unskilled labourers in industries such as

construction, chemicals, mining and quarrying as the most vulnerable

to infection.

It also concluded that Aids could lead to increased poverty in

India.

But Aids prevention organisations in India say that an aggressive

campaign against the disease could head off the threat.

" The government of India's scaled-up response in financing and

energy will halt and reverse the trend the epidemic has shown over

the next four or five years, " said del Prado of UNAids.

" We have already found that in high-risk states, the growth of HIV

infections can be reversed with the government pushing an aggressive

campaign against the spread of the disease, " added Sujata Rao,

director of India's National Aids Control Organisation.

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/5198402.stm

_______________________________

" Dr. Pradeep Kasar "

e-mail: <kasarpk@...>