HIV cases in India far less than revealed by U.N. and WHO

June 09: “The numbers of Indian infected from HIV virus is distant lower than earlier estimates,” says a study conducted by government of India. The study was conducted in cooperation with Avahan, an Indian branch of Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, while WHO and UNO has acknowledged the data released by Indian government official on Friday.

Though the survey is yet to be released, the statistical data is still to be analyzed and the comprehensive report will be revealed after few weeks, said Ashok Alexander, the director of Avahan, which conducted the survey along with National Health and Family Welfare of India. Avahan works in India for AIDS and HIV infected patients and is funded by UN and many reputed funding agencies.

The survey reveals that the estimated numbers of the HIV infected persons in India are not as much as UN figures reveal. According to United Nations, India had surpassed South Africa last year in the race of HIV and AIDS patients. The total number of 5.7 million people are said to be infected in India while only 5.5 million infected people are reported as infected in South Africa. But the actual figure according to the recent survey is about 2 million people.

This survey is considered as more reliable as it was conducted on door-to-door basis among the 2,00,000 adults of high risk group in comparison to the previous surveys conducted by U.N. Surveys conducted by U.N. were based only on pre-natal clinics of pregnant women, while the new survey has a combined data of collected blood samples from the pre-natal clinics of pregnant women and face to face interviews across India, which were conducted from December 2005 to August 2006 and focussed over high risk groups in which prostitutes, drivers and other general people involved includes 50 percent women between the age group of 15 to 54. The data was also collected from the government's National Family Health Survey claimed Ashok.

"There's going to be a reduction and it could even be a significant reduction overall," said Alexander. “There is no significant margin of errors. It is good news for India but the new figures shouldn't lead to a let-up in India's battle to control the virus, which affects as much as 1 percent of the population in the country's more developed southern states.

This is a bit like declaring victory before even fully fighting the battle”.

Daniel Halperin, an HIV and AIDS expert at the Harvard School of Public Health said that “the new data will bind the health officials. On the one hand there's a real HIV epidemic in India and it needs to be addressed, but on the other, there's an understandable concern that people were worried that funding or attention could be diminished if the prevalence numbers come out lower,".

Halperin and his team have published several studies in leading medical journals criticizing the UN figures on the basis of its method. The actual numbers of HIV victims in India, and other parts of the world, are far less than as stated by the UNO and WHO. On the other hand, Indian doctors raised fingers on the published report because of its methodology as it sketched a flawed picture because the amount of HIV-positive people reporting to prenatal clinics, sexually transmitted infection clinics and public hospitals was not representative of their true numbers in the population.

The reason of overestimate assumption is because of its regional differences between southern India and northern India as Southern part has more prenatal clinics and a higher AIDS infection rate, and northern part has fewer clinics and significantly smaller problem with the virus said researchers.

Some rumors have been cleared as it is believed that the infection is increasing most probably from heterosexual activities and infected needles while the surveys reveals that indulgences in homosexual activities is the main causes in the male and heterogeneous sex are the main cause in females. The people who goes outsides for earning for a long duration, returns with the infection and spread it among their partners.

Last week, health officials from India were alarmed by the growing numbers of pregnant women infected with HIV, especially in the northern states of Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Bihar.

Those are among India's most backward, with huge populations but poor literacy and health services.

The official warned the state governments to be serious about tackling the disease, which can be an AIDS epidemic.

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