Delhi alarm as India's army falls prey to AIDS

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Delhi alarm as India's army falls prey to Aids

By Jo , South Asia Correspondent

Published: June 14 2007 03:00 | Last updated: June 14 2007 03:00

India's defence ministry has launched a campaign urging the wives of

soldiers to protect themselves from HIV/Aids after the " rapid spread "

of the disease through the country's armed forces.

The move follows " alarm " in the government over the situation.

" The youthful, exuberant and aggressive attitude of our troops,

combined with the long separation from families and high mobility has

compounded the risks faced by [wives], " said Yogendra Singh, director

general of the Armed Forces Medical Services.

India has one of the largest standing armies in the world, with

approximately 1.3m active military personnel and 535,000 reserve

force members.

It also has 12 paramilitary forces, which have an authorised strength

of around 1.3m.

During peacetime, military personnel are up to five times more likely

to contract sexually transmitted infections (STI) - including HIV -

than the civilian population.

In times of conflict, when soldiers are away from home for long

periods, the risk is even higher.

Although the overall national prevalence is low, at below 1 per cent,

the country has six " high-prevalence " states, two of which - Nagaland

and Manipur - are in India's insurgency-wracked north-east, where

military personnel are stationed in large numbers.

Lieutenant-General Bhopinder Singh of the Assam Rifles, India's

oldest paramilitary force, sounded the alarm about the spread of the

disease in 2005.

He warned that moresoldiers were being killedby HIV/Aids than by

enemy fire in the north-east.

There is no comprehensive up-to-date data on the prevalence of

HIV/Aids in theuniformed services, although a statement to parliament

last year claimed that itwas just 0.028 per cent, a fraction of the

national infection rate.

Statistics on the Indian HIV/Aids epidemic have, for several years,

been the -subject of intense controversy.

New Delhi denies that India has overtaken South Africa to become

thecountry with the largest caseload.

In May 2006, the UNAIDS global report estimated that India had 5.7m

carriers in 2005, with a range of between 3.4m and 9.3m, putting it

just ahead of South Africa in terms of absolute numbers of carriers,

but still far behind in terms of prevalence.

But a new survey, which was partially funded by the Bill and Melinda

Gates Foundation and which has not yet been released, suggests that

the total number of Indians infected by the virus may be far lower.

The New York Times, which first reported the findings, said that

early analysis of the data could put the total number of people

infected at somewhere between 2m and 3m, putting India far behind

South Africa. UNAIDS put South Africa's HIV-infected population at

5.3m in 2005.

Although non-governmental organisations in the field say India is

moving out of denial, awareness remains patchy, with even many

lawmakers still ignorant about the disease.

A survey that was released last year by Manmohan Singh, the prime

minister, exposed stunning misconceptions among some parliamentarians.

Of the 250 MPs who were questioned for the survey, two-thirds thought

thatthe disease could be transmitted through shared clothing, while

56 per cent believed it could be caught from shared food and kitchen

utensils, and almost a quarter said it was spread through the public

sewerage system.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007

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