Global HIV/AIDS Response – Epidemic Update released by the World Health Organisation

According to the UNAIDS report, drafted jointly with the UNICEF and the World Health Organisation (WHO) and released on 30 November 2011,  India houses half of Asia's HIV patients and is way ahead of China in disease burden. India also featured in the list of 22 countries prioritised for preventing mother to child transmission infection.

The report was titled- Global HIV/AIDS response – Epidemic update and health sector progress towards universal access: progress report 2011.

About 48 lakh people were living with HIV in Asia in 2010 and nearly half of them , 49 per cent were found to be living in India. The percentage of pregnant women who tested positive for HIV infection in India also rose from 2 per cent in 2005 t0 23 per cent in 2010.

Seven Asian countries report an estimated 100000 or more people living with HIV in 2009, collectively accounting for more than 90 per cent of people with HIV in the region. India topped the list followed by China, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Vietnam, though the highest prevalence rate, one per cent, was observed only in Thailand.

In Asia, the rate of HIV transmission appeared to slowdown. The estimated 360000 people who were newly infected with HIV in Asia in 2010 were considerably fewer than the 450000 estimated for 2001.

Traditional risk groups: The report noted that the HIV epidemic is being stabilised among female sex workers and traditional risk groups in the six high-prevalence States including Karnataka. However  the epidemics among men who have sex with men was found to be growing across the region including India.

High prevalence: High prevalence, between 8 and 32 per cent of the disease was found among surveyed men who have sex with men in many Asian cities. The UNAIDS report quoted a study according to which the prevalence is 18 per cent in South India. The report also says that 35 per cent of children with HIV infection were receiving anti-retroviral therapy treatment.

A 2009 survey had showed that HIV prevalence of 4.6 per cent among female sex workers in Mumbai and Thane and 24 per cent among street-based sex workers. The prevalence could be as high as 29 per cent among their brothel-based counterparts in some districts of Maharashtra.

Prevention programmes: Several prevention programmes was put to work in India. One such programme in Karnataka was associated with a drop in HIV prevalence from 25 per cent to 13 per cent among female sex workers in three selected districts between 2004 and 2009.
A similar programme brought down the prevalence from 1.4 per cent to 0.8 per cent among young antenatal clinic attendees between 2004 and2008 in 18 districts. Another intervention programme in Mumbai and Thane led to a decline from 45 per cent HIV prevalence in 2004 to 13 per cent in 2010 among brothel-based sex workers.

HIV/AIDS in Europe and Asia

A report titled HIV/AIDS surveillance in Europe 2010 noted a 2.5-fold increase in the total number of HIV infections reported in Europe since 20011.

500000 cases were diagnosed in the Russian Federation and almost 180000 AIDS cases were diagnosed in countries with no HIV surveillance data from before 2002–2004 (France, Italy and Spain). The total cumulative number of people diagnosed with HIV in the Region was  about 1.4 million.

In eastern Europe and central Asia, 43% of the new cases reported in 2010 were in people who inject drugs, slightly less than the 48% in people infected through heterosexual contact. In recent years, eastern countries experienced an increasing proportion of heterosexually transmitted HIV cases, which are likely to be associated with sexual transmission from drug injectors.

In the western part of the Region, the epidemic remains concentrated among men who have sex with men (accounting for 39% of newly diagnosed cases in 2010) and migrants from countries with generalized epidemics (accounting for at least a third of heterosexually acquired infections).

The estimated number of people dying from AIDS-related causes in eastern Europe and central Asia increased more than 10-fold between 2001 and 2010.

Challenge to the HIV response in Europe

The biggest challenge to the HIV response in Europe lies in increasing access to effective and life-saving treatment, especially in eastern Europe and central Asia, where only 23% of those believed to need antiretroviral treatment were receiving it in 2010. This is well below the global average of 47% for low- and middle-income countries.

To reduce mother-to-child transmission, the European Region had a rate of 88% coverage with antiretrovirals for HIV-positive pregnant women in 2010, surpassing the United Nations target (80%) and the global average for low- and middle-income countries (59%).

European Action Plan

Faced with this alarming rise, the 53 Member States in the Region endorsed the new European Action Plan for HIV/AIDS 2012–2015.

The new European Action Plan for HIV/AIDS 2012–2015, adopted in September 2011 by the 53 countries in the WHO European Region and officially released on 30 November 2011, is an urgent call for action on this public health challenge.The European Action Plan represents an excellent roadmap for national strategies and responses.