50% drop in HIV cases in India in 10 years, says UN report

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50% drop in HIV cases in India in 10 years, says UN report

Indo-Asian News Service

New Delhi, November 23, 2010

India has shown a 50% drop in the number of new HIV infections in the last 10

years as the AIDS epidemic is beginning to reverse globally with a decline in

the newly-infected HIV cases and AIDS-related deaths, says a United Nations

report released on Tuesday. The 2010 UNAIDS Report on the global

AIDS epidemic shows about 33.3 million people were estimated to be living with

HIV at the end on 2009 with 2.3 million living in India.

An estimated 2.6 million people became newly infected with HIV in 2009, nearly

20% fewer than the 3.1 million people infected in 1999. In India, 120,000 people

got infected in 2009.

While 1.8 million people died from AIDS-related illnesses, nearly one-fifth

lower than the 2.1 million people who died in 2004, about 170,000 people died in

India.

" We are breaking the trajectory of the AIDS epidemic with bold actions and smart

choices. India is doing quite well in HIV treatment. Investments in the AIDS

response are paying off, but gains are fragile -- the challenge now is how we

can all work to accelerate progress, " said Gilks, UNAIDS country

coordinator India.

The 2010 report contains basic HIV data from 182 countries and from 2001 to

2009, the rate of new HIV infections stabilised or decreased by more than 25% in

at least 56 countries around the world, including 34 countries in sub-Saharan

Africa.

Among young people in 15 of the most severely affected countries, the rate of

new HIV infections has fallen by more than 25% led by young people adopting

safer sexual practices.

In 59 countries including 18 of the 25 countries with the highest HIV

prevalence, less than 25% of men reported having sex with more than one partner

in the last 12 months. Eighty-four countries reported the same behaviour trends

for women.

Condom use and availability have increased significantly among high risk group

like sex workers and transgenders. Eleven countries, including Burkina Faso,

India and Peru, report more than 75% condom use at last higher-risk sex.

Even though the number of new HIV infections is decreasing, there are two new

HIV infections for every one person starting HIV treatment.

Investments in HIV prevention programmes as whole have not been adequate or

efficiently allocated.

" We need annually $15 billion for HIV prevention and treatment but only $8

billion is earmarked globally. There is an urgent need to sustain and scale up

good investments and for countries to share the financial burden of the

epidemic. Many countries are under-investing and need to increase their domestic

financial commitments to sustain and scale up the AIDS response, " said Taoufik

Bakkali, UNAIDS senior monitoring and evaluation adviser, India.

The report found that more people are living longer and AIDS-related deaths are

declining as access to treatment has expanded.

" The total number of people on treatment increased by seven and half times over

the last five years with 5.2 million people accessing life-saving drugs in 2009,

compared to 700,000 in 2004, " said Gilks.

However, nearly twice the number of people -- 10 million -- are still awaiting

treatment and countries need to speed up work on AIDS prevention.

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