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72,000 new HIV cases, high-risk group is problem Controversial pre-marital HIV testing by India
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http://www.todayonline.com
India will report a 157 percent jump in new HIV infections in 2005, pushing the total number of sufferers to over 5.2 million, a newspaper said.
But the number of people living with HIV/AIDS, which was up from the previous year's 5.13 million cases, remains below South Africa's 5.3 million, the Indian Express said.
The paper said it was quoting a National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) report due out next week. See NACO report below.
The 72,000 new infections in 2005 was up from 28,000 in 2004, the paper said. But it still was far below the 520,000 new infections reported in 2003 by the government body.
Last year's figures showing a 95 percent fall in new infections were sharply condemned as unrealistic by AIDS groups. Government officials said the fall was due to a change in the method of compiling the figures.
A study by the British medical journal The Lancet last month suggested a sharp slowdown in the rate of new infections in India's high-prevalence southern states.
The latest reported government figures showed the southern state of Andhra Pradesh still had the highest number of people living with HIV/AIDS with two percent of the population affected. But that was down from 2.25 percent in 2004.
However, the infection rate in India's wealthiest state, Maharashtra -- home to the financial hub Mumbai -- rose to 1.25 percent from 1.12 percent.
In the AIDS-hit northeast, Nagaland had a 1.63 percent prevalance rate, up from 1.43 percent in 2004. But the infection rate in the tiny state of Manipur fell to 1.25 percent from 1.50 percent.
The newspaper said NACO had singled out the northeastern state of Mizoram with an 0.88 percent infection rate, the eastern state of Orissa with 0.25 percent and West Bengal with 0.66 percent as "the slow and silent pockets of the epidemic and the states to watch out for."
In some populous and poverty-ridden states, such as northern Uttar Pradesh and eastern Bihar, lack of data poses a problem, the paper said. NACO had decided to estimate HIV prevalence in those areas at 0.17 percent.
Nationwide, out of those infected, 60.3 percent were male, 38.4 percent female and just under one percent children. The majority of infections were in the 22-45 age group.
AIDS campaigners say the government must battle much harder against the disease. They warn of widespread under-reporting of HIV infections due to social stigma, lack of treatment and ignorance.
There are only around 700 voluntary testing centers across India. NACO wants to see 24,000 by 2010. - AFP
72,000 new HIV cases, high-risk group is problem
Thursday April 6 2006 08:33 IST
http://www.newindpress.com
NEW DELHI: According to the latest National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) figures, the country has reported 72,000 new infections last year compared to 28,000 in 2004.
The new figures (that will be released in a week) take the total HIV estimate in the country to over 5.2 million.
Out of the infected 60.3 per cent are male, 38.4 per cent female and 0.96 per cent children. According to NACO, a majority of the infections are in the 22-45 age group.
The HIV prevalence percentage in the country is 0.88 and remains below the epidemic status of 1 per cent.
While an international study last week suggested that the growth rate of HIV/AIDS in the general population in high-prevalence Southern states has gone down, the high-risk groups in these states seem to be adding to the numbers.
While Andhra Pradesh still leads the table with 2 per cent prevalence in general population, the figure has dipped from 2.25 in 2004.
Nagaland is second with 1.63 per cent prevalence, an increase from 1.43 in 2004. Karnataka (1.25), Maharashtra (1.25), Manipur (1.25) and Goa (1.13) have crossed the one-per cent epidemic mark. Manipur, however, has shown a decrease-from 1.50 per cent in 2004 to 1.25.
The problem, however, seems to be the high-risk groups attending the STD clinics. In Andhra, the figure is up from 16.40 per cent in 2004 to 22.80 per cent in 2005 (see box).
Other highlights of the report.
-NACO has marked Mizoram (0.88 per cent), Delhi (0.25), Rajasthan (0.13), Orissa (0.25) and West Bengal (0.66), as the slow and silent pockets of the epidemic and the states to watch out for.
-The other areas of concern are states such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar where lack of data poses a problem-both states have shown zero per cent prevalence this year. Zero prevalence has been reported from 11 states this year. NACO, however, has decided to replace zero prevalence with 0.17 in these states.
THE HIGH-RISK ZONE
INCREASING NUMBERS IN STD CLINICS
(Figures: percentage of infection among the high-risk group tested)
STATES 2004 2005
Andhra Pradesh 16.40 22.80
Karnataka 12.00 13.60
Maharashtra 10.80 15.20
Manipur 7.20 12.20
Nagaland 1.72 3.48
Rajasthan 1.26 4.04
Orissa 2.80 4.60
Mizoram 1.00 3.00
West Bengal 0.88 2.04
Tripura 0.73 1.26
Goa to go ahead with plan on mandatory premarital HIV test
Special Correspondent
http://www.hindu.com
PANAJI: The Goa Government will go ahead with its proposed plan to make HIV/AIDS testing before marriage mandatory.
Reacting to the reported opposition by United Nations AIDS Programme Country Director Denis Broun, Chief Minister Pratapsinh Rane said on Friday: "The UN HIV programme is not law, we are passing a law." See next article.
He said the decision has been taken in the interest of the people.
The legislation will have a provision that if both the bride and the bridegroom sign a consent paper that they do not want the test, it will not be done.
Health Minister Dayanand Narvekar had announced plans to make premarital HIV test compulsory before marriage registration.
The State Cabinet has cleared the proposal to amend the Goa Public Health Act in the monsoon session of the State Assembly in July.
However, United Nation's HIV Programme official has said that the State has to think again as it will prove to be counter-productive.
He said that it not only violates privacy but also stigmatises the entire family, and also tends to create a black market in false HIV test results.
UN urges Goa to end plans for premarital HIV tests on couples
http://www.financialexpress-bd.com
Jo Johnson 4/5/2006
The head of the United Nations Aids programme in India has recently urged the state of Goa to abandon controversial plans to force marrying couples to undergo compulsory testing for HIV.
The legislation would make Goa the first state in India, which is estimated to have more than 5.0m people with HIV/Aids, to require premarital testing. Dayanand Narvekar, the state's health minister, has said the law would be amended in the July session.
Such is the stigma associated with the disease and so costly are the drugs used for treating it that few people voluntarily come forward for testing in India, which may soon overtake South Africa as the country with the largest number of HIV cases.
"Ninety per cent of people with HIV in India are unaware of their status, but compulsion is always counter-productive," said Denis Broun, UNAIDS country director, in an interview.
Critics of such legislation say it would violate privacy, stigmatise entire families and create a black market in false HIV-test results. Compulsory HIV testing before marriage has been proposed in several Indian states but, so far, never enacted.
Calls for mandatory testing are a common recourse for politicians wishing to create the impression of a resolute stand against the epidemic. Dormant provisions of Goan law still permit the forced testing and isolation of people suspected of being HIV positive.
The introduction of mandatory testing in Goa would run counter to national Aids policy, which encourages voluntary testing based on informed consent, and would reflect the lack of co-ordination between various state agencies.
"We are not in favour of this at all and we must have a state debate on this issue," said J.J. Dias, project director of the Goa State Aids Control Society, a subsidiary of the central government's National Aids Control Organisation (Naco).
Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) say focusing scarce resources on mandatory premarital testing would divert attention away from safe sex awareness programmes and create a false sense of security in the conjugal bed.
Tripti Tandon, senior project office at the Lawyers, Collective, a NGO specialising in HIV and the law, says that HIV-negative certificates would further limit the ability of women to negotiate safe sex with husbands they suspect of infidelity.
"It will simply become a virginity test or a character certificate for the women," Ms Tandon said.
Civil rights groups argue that permitting mandatory testing in one context increases the risk that it will become a de facto requirement for employment and access to healthcare.
Naco has identified six "high-prevalence" states, where infection rates among high-risk groups exceed 5.0 per cent and 1.0 per cent among antenatal women, a representation of the general population. Of these, four are contiguous states -- Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh -- where the epidemic has been driven by sex workers. In Manipur and Nagaland, bordering Burma, it has mainly spread through drug use.
Wedged between Karnataka and Maharashtra, Goa is in the front line of India's war against HIV. Experts say the country is at a tipping point and in urgent need of mounting the largest prevention programme seen anywhere in the world.
Compared with some countries in southern Africa, where HIV rates run as high as 20-30 per cent, India, with an estimated prevalence rate of around 0.9 per cent of the adult population, might seem on top of the epidemic, But the sheer size of the population, at over 11m, means that for every percentage point added to the adult infection rate another 5.0m people are thrown on to the resources of an already overburdened health system.
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