India’s New HIV Infections Rising: World Bank

The number of Indians with HIV infection could rise to 5.5 million a year by 2033 — more than the total number of existing cases — unless urgent steps are taken, the World Bank said on Friday.

The number of Indians with HIV infection could rise to 5.5 million a year by 2033 — more than the total number of existing cases — unless urgent steps are taken, the World Bank said on Friday.Without a change in treatment policy and progress in prevention, HIV/AIDS will become the single largest cause of death in the world’s second most populous nation, accounting for 17 percent of all deaths and 40 percent of infectious deaths, by 2033, the bank said in a report on HIV/AIDS in India.HIV/AIDS currently accounts for two percent of all deaths and six percent of infectious deaths.”Antiretroviral therapy is not going to have a big impact on the course of the epidemic,” Peter Heywood, World Bank health specialist and one of the authors of the report, told reporters.”What will have an impact, however, is the use of condoms and prevention.”India has the largest number of people with HIV/AIDS outside South Africa and experts fear it could soon vault to the top of the world’s list. Knowledge about the illness is still scant, and most Indians who are infected do not know it.According to the government, the number of people living with HIV/AIDS in India rose to 5.1 million in 2003.The government has a national program to combat the problem but HIV/AIDS has spread beyond traditionally high-risk groups such as prostitutes, drug users and homosexuals.Experts say the most alarming trend is the spread of the disease to the countryside, with rural India accounting for a high 59 percent of infections compared with 41 percent in the cities.Last month, Human Rights Watch said the government was ignoring the plight of hundreds of thousands of children with HIV/AIDS and turning a blind eye to widespread discrimination.Hundreds of thousands of Indian children in India have HIV/AIDS and many more are orphaned or forced to withdraw from school to care for sick parents. Yet they are “nearly invisible” in the government’s response to the epidemic, Human Rights Watch said. (Source: World Bank Data, Reutersm August 2004)