INDIA: India No Longer Shying Away from AIDS Epidemic

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

INDIA: India No Longer Shying Away from AIDS Epidemic

Agence France Presse (12.24.03) - Monday, December 29, 2003
Uttara Choudhury

Despite the Indian government's proposing cheaper HIV/AIDS drugs in 2003 and moving away from its previous stress on abstinence as a means of prevention, activists say more needs to be done. India has 4.58 million HIV/AIDS patients, second only to South Africa's 5 million. Critics say the government's prevention strategy suffers from dull awareness programs, poor treatment facilities, and ignorance of HIV/AIDS in villages, where 85 percent of India's billion-plus population live.

"Condom usage is a must," said Health Minister Sushma Swaraj. "We are saying this all the time but there is no harm in also saying people should be faithful to their partners."

"Awareness levels of HIV/AIDS in rural areas are shockingly low," said A.R. Nanda of Population Foundation of India, a nongovernmental organization. Nanda said Indian men leave their villages to find work, have sex outside marriage, and those with HIV later infect their wives. "Can the poor wives insist their husbands wear condoms?" Nanda asked. "Yes, in an ideal world, but in India most women are forced to treat their husbands like God."

Nanda's group and the Washington-based Population Reference Bureau issued a study saying 90 percent of urban Indians know about HIV/AIDS, but more than a quarter of rural Indians have never heard of it. It warns that without urgent action, India could see an AIDS epidemic similar to the pandemic in some African countries.

Meenakshi Datta Ghosh of the National AIDS Control Organization said the government is negotiating with Indian drug companies to get "rock bottom prices" for Indian patients by April 2004. The government has announced a plan to lower drug prices to less than 20 cents a day, compared to the current average of $1.00.
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