Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2000. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2000. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia - Wednesday November 29, 2000
"Antiretroviral therapy given to people who are HIV-positive is beyond the reach of the Indian government because it costs $25,000 per patient per year," J. Rao, project director of the National AIDS Prevention and Control Organization, told an economic conference.
According to the United Nations, India has 3.7 million HIV-infected people, the largest number in the world after South Africa.
The official said the government had earmarked about $320 million for a 5-year project to counter the spread of the disease.
Rao said the cost of the therapy for the country's entire HIV-positive population was way above the government's total AIDS-control budget.He said India was hamstrung by the fact that it was heavily dependent on external funds from organisations like the United Nations to fight the disease.
Rao said the disease has become widespread in the Indian states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and the northeastern provinces of Nagaland and Manipur.
He added that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who had taken up the AIDS issue as a socioeconomic problem rather than just a health problem, was also trying to rope in industry to help combat the disease.
"The prime minister has launched an initiative with business leaders to promote AIDS awareness to the workplace and to provide care and support to infected workers," he said. ($1 - 46.88 rupees).
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