UNAIDS HIV AIDS report 2011 revealed 56% Fall in the Number of New HIV Infections in India

The UNAIDS HIV AIDS report 2011 released on 21 November 2011 revealed a dramatic decrease of 56 per cent between 1996 and 2010 in the number of new HIV infections in India.

India overshot treatment targets for 2012 with 4.48 lakh HIV positive patients on the lifesaving anti-retroviral therapy at present, against the target of 3.4 lakh.

The report pointed out that in India, 20-40% of the eligible HIV population was actually receiving ART — one of the lowest HIV treatment coverage in the world and only  40% of pregnant women had access to ART to prevent new HIV infections among children.

World-wide scenerio

Worldwide, with 2.7 million new HIV infections in 2010, the number of new infections went down by 21 per cent compared to 1997.

According to the new estimates, 47% (6.6 million) of the estimated 14.2 million people eligible for treatment in low- and middle-income countries were accessing ART in 2010, an increase of 1.35 million since 2009.

The year 2010 saw 2.7 million new HIV infections while 1.8 million people died of AIDS-related illnesses. A massive scale up in access to HIV treatment had a dramatic effect on the lives of people everywhere. The report pointed out that behaviour change among young people, sex workers, injectible drug users and MSM groups is the biggest reason for the fall in new HIV infections. Increased coverage of anti-retroviral therapy programmes was pronounced as the key to universal access to treatment, care and support.

It, however claimed that the number of new HIV infections continued to rise in eastern Europe and central Asia, west Asia and North Africa, while it remained stable in other regions.

South and South-east Asia

The report mentioned that new HIV infections had been significantly reduced or had stabilized in most parts of the world. The number of new HIV infections in south and south-east Asia dropped by more than 40% between 2006-10. New HIV infections among adults and children in south and south-east Asia declined from an estimated 3.8 lakh in 2001 to 2.7 lakh in 2010

HIV prevalence remained substantially lower in Asia than in some other regions In 2010, an estimated 0.1% of the population in east Asia was living with HIV, and 0.3% in south and south-east Asia. Since the epidemic’s peak in 1996, there has been a 40% decline in new infections in south and south-east Asia. Asian population represents the second largest grouping of people living with HIV globally, due to its absolute size.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be the region most heavily affected by HIV in 2010 with 70 per cent of the new infections being reported from the region. The number is 26 per cent less than at the height of the epidemic in 2007. An estimated 5.6 million people are believed to be living with HIV in South Africa alone.

Eastern Europe and Central Asia

The report highlighted the burgeoning HIV load of countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia where there was a 250 per cent increase between 2001 and 2010 in people living with HIV. Also it noted that that the HIV epidemic in Western and Central Europe remained stubbornly steady during the period under survey. The total number of people living with HIV in the region was 34 per cent more than the figure in 2001. More than half of the total 2.2 million HIV positive people in the area are from the US.

UNAIDS Finding

According to UNAIDS and WHO estimates, 47 per cent (6.6 million) of the estimated 14.2 million people eligible for treatment in low and middle income countries had access to lifesaving ART in 2010-a rise of 1.35 million since 2009. Around 400,000 new HIV infections in children were estimated to have been averted since 1995 due to increased access to effective ART regimens.