UN agency endorses halved AIDS estimates in India

New York, Nov 20 - The estimates of HIV/AIDS cases in India have been more than halved, according to a report released Tuesday by the UN's AIDS fighting body, putting a stamp on the country's internal assessment in July this year.

The number of those infected by HIV in India is 2.5 million, and not 5.7 million as estimated earlier, according to the latest figures released by UNAIDS based in Geneva.

This removes the stigma from the country, earlier thought to be the worst hit by the worldwide epidemic. Now it is third in global AIDS estimates after South Africa and Nigeria.

Revision of data from India and some populous African countries has brought down the global disease burden to about 33.2 million from the 39.5 million UNAIDS estimated in its previous annual report.

The agency now believes that the number of new infections each year with HIV probably peaked in the late 1990s, or by 2001, at about 3 million.

As for India, the AIDS control policy being implemented by the government seems to be showing results and the spread of the disease has definitely reduced, said Denis Broun, country coordinator for UNAIDS.

Accepting the revised figures for India released by National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) as more accurate, UNAIDS has noted: 'India has greatly expanded and improved its surveillance system in recent years, and increased the population groups covered. More data sources were considered, including special studies and behavioural surveillance, as well as the NFHS-3 (National Family Health Survey) which for the first time included a component on HIV.'

(c) Indo-Asian News Service

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