Health care systems in transition III. India, Part II. The current status of HIV-AIDS in India.

Abstract

HIV continues to spread around the world while also strengthening its grip on areas where AIDS has become the leading cause of death in adults. In India nationwide sentinel surveillance data collected in February-March 1998 confirmed that HIV infection is prevalent in all parts of the country. The rapid spread of the epidemic across the country has been attributed to labor migration and mobility low literacy levels gender disparities and the presence of other sexually transmitted and reproductive tract infections. As in other parts of the world the HIV epidemic has created significant social challenges in India. The stigma attached to the disease is immense and the cost of treatment and care is high. Perinatal transmission of HIV and AIDS in children is also prevalent in the country which is further aggravated by the lack of maternal screening and the high cost of prevention interventions. Despite these facts the National AIDS Control Programme (NACO) has seen the HIV epidemic solely as a public health matter to be dealt by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. However because of its behavioral aspects and its strong socioeconomic associations the disease needs to be treated as a far wider developmental issue. NACO needs to translate its vision of leading and catalyzing an expanded response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic into reality.