Injecting drugs threaten India's AIDS fight - UNAIDS

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Injecting drugs threaten India's AIDS fight - UN

13 Nov 2008 10:44:24 GMT

Source: Reuters By Bappa Majumdar

NEW DELHI, Nov 13 (Reuters) - HIV/AIDS infections will spread

like " bushfire " in parts of India if the country fails to check a

spike in the number of intravenous drug users, the United Nations

AIDS agency said on Thursday.

India has the world's third highest caseload with 2.5 million

infections. It has an estimated 200,000 intravenous drug users, many

of whom are in the remote northeast region which borders the opium-

producing Golden Triangle of Myanmar, Thailand and Laos.

" If we don't prevent new infections in new emerging populations like

injecting drug users, it can go up as bushfires. We may see a major

surge in infections, " Piot, the executive director of UNAIDS,

said.

He also raised concerns about the spread of drugs in India. " Drug use

is moving a bit everywhere, we can see it in Bihar, UP (Uttar

Pradesh) and in Kashmir, it is kind of moving across the northern

part of the country, " Piot, head of UNAIDS told Reuters.

" I was really shocked to hear what was going on. "

Official figures show that more than 10 percent of intravenous drug

users in India are infected with HIV, a higher prevalence than among

prostitutes. The country's overall HIV/AIDS prevalence rate is about

0.9 percent for those aged between 15 and 49. (Editing by Krittivas

Mukherjee)

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