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UN Says India May Overtake South Africa in AIDS Cases

Originally published by Reuters Health, May 2, 2002

DELHI, India (Reuters) — India will have the largest number of people living with HIV/AIDS in a few years, overtaking South Africa, if steps are not taken to curb the deadly disease, UNAIDS chief Dr. Peter Piot said on Thursday.

“In terms of absolute numbers, India will overtake South Africa,” Dr. Piot, executive director of UNAIDS, told Reuters. “In a few years time, India will have the largest number of people with HIV in the world,” he added. However, he does not believe that India will follow the same path as South Africa.

Currently, there are 3.8 million people infected with HIV in India, second only to South Africa, where 4.7 million people are infected. But while 20% of South African adults are infected with HIV, the equivalent figure in India is just 0.7%, UN data shows.

Although the Indian government has launched a nationwide program to stop the disease from spreading among its more than one billion people, it faces a social and cultural battle because of the enormous stigma attached to the disease.

AIDS has spread from traditionally high-risk groups, such as prostitutes, drug users and homosexuals, to large rural swathes and urban areas with huge migrant populations. Dr. Piot said that many Indians suffered from the misconception they were safe because AIDS only strikes certain categories of people.

Dr. Piot said he was particularly concerned about some parts of India such as the western Maharashtra state where 2% of the adult population is HIV-positive and the northeast region where 30% to 40% of injecting drug users are infected with the virus.

Some states, such as Uttar Pradesh in the north and Bihar, in the east were extremely vulnerable because they have a large migrant population, he noted.

Dr. Piot said government and religious leaders and other prominent people such as movie stars and sportsmen could play a big role in fighting AIDS across the world. “You can have all the dollars in the world but it’s leadership at the top level that is important.”