Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, kicking off a national convention to mark World's AIDS Day, also called for a revamp of programs used to stem the spread of the infection among the country's billion-plus population, more than half of which is under 25 years old.
"You should comprehend the need to ed
NEW DELHI, Dec 1 (AFP) - India's prime minister Thursday said that safe sex needs to be taught to young people to stem the rise of HIV/AIDS in the country, which has the second largest number of people infected after South Africa.ucate our young about the modes of transmission of this disease, and leading a healthy and safe sexual life is one of the commitments we must all make," Singh said, urging adults to shed their inhibitions and discuss sex at home.
"This is particularly important given our traditional inhibitions about discussing such matters within our families and among our colleagues, quite apart from doing so in public."
India's health ministry in May said there were only 28,000 new HIV infections in 2004, down from 520,000 the previous year -- figures which were rejected outright by national volunteer health groups.
The figures took the total number of officially HIV-positive people in India to 5.13 million, the second highest after South Africa with 5.3 million cases.
Singh said it was important for India to expand awareness of HIV/AIDS.
"Our government is committed to providing leadership to the national AIDS control efforts ... and to start with, I do believe that this programme needs to get out of the narrow confines of the health department," Singh said.
"If we do so, we could upscale our efforts to the desired levels within a minimum period of time and we have no time to waste," he said, echoing warnings of anti-AIDS campaigners that New Delhi needs to step up its fight.
The World Bank has said HIV/AIDS could become the single biggest cause of death in India unless prevention and treatment was improved and made cheaper.
Singh said there was also a need to prod the Indian pharmaceutical industry to accelerate basic research and produce low-cost drugs and vaccines.
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