July 09, 2007 (Tuesday) The new 2006 estimates released by the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), supported by UNAIDS and WHO, indicate that national adult HIV prevalence in India is approximately 0.36%, which corresponds to an estimated 2 million to 3.1 million people living with HIV in the country.

These estimates look to be more accurate than those of previous years, as they are based on an expanded surveillance system and a revised and enhanced methodology.

But National Integration Assembly (NIA), a mission which also is dedicated to the World AIDS Prevention Program, differs from the figures given by NACO.

“India is such a country, where the people are shy, they avoid medical tests and that results in an erroneous data. However, we can take the figure released by the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), supported by UNAIDS and WHO, as generally accepted,” Dr. Raj Baldev, its chairman said in New Delhi while briefing the members in a meeting held on Monday.

“In our estimate, the figure is 15% more than has actually been shown.  The effected people hesitate and don’t get their cases reported.  This figure of percentage cannot decrease, it can be assumed on a bit higher side,” said Monica Groover, NIA Secretary of US Chapter (California).   

As part of its continuing effort, to know this epidemic better, the Indian Government has greatly expanded and improved its surveillance system in recent years and increased the population groups covered. In 2006, the government created 400 new sentinel surveillance sites and facilitated National Family Health Survey-3, which is a population based survey.

Commenting on the new estimates and guarding against their misinterpretation, Sujatha Rao, Additional Secretary and Director General, National AIDS Control Organization said, “The calculation of figures for several years, using the new model helps us understand that the new lower estimates do not mean a sharp decline in the epidemic.”

Cautioning against an easing off the momentum of the HIV response she added, “Using a similar methodology led to downward revision in estimates in some countries such as Zambia and Rwanda. We will convince all stakeholders to stay energized and to retain the hard-fought gains of the last decade”

 http://news.moneycontrol.com/mccode/news/article/news_article.php?autono=291003

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