 With the highest number of HIV/AIDS cases in the world, India faces a major epidemic that threatens the country's achievements in health and development. Today, India still has a small but rapidly closing window of opportunity for stemming the epidemic. If successful, India could keep the prevalence of HIV below 5 percent of the adult population. If it fails, however, the AIDS situation in India could become like that in many of the worst affected African countries.
India's fight against HIV began in earnest with the start of the World bank-financed National AIDS Project, approved in 1992. To promote nationwide efforts, the project set up AIDS control offices in 32 states and union territories. It also helped establish an Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) program, exploiting media and traditional communications channels such as folk music, festivals, awareness campaigns, and elephant parades to highlight the risks of HIV/AIDS. Under another project component, the government improved blood safety, making HIV screening mandatory at all blood banks, banning professional blood donations, promoting voluntary blood donations, and launching a program to improve the ways blood banks are being run.
The project did contribute to some important progress in the battle against HIV. Public knowledge of HIV in cities increased from 54 percent of the population to 80 percent, and from 13 percent to 64 percent in the countryside. Use of condoms in some targeted high-risk groups increased from 10 percent to between 50 and 90 percent. Nationwide, there was a 50 percent increase in the volume of condom distribution through social marketing. Furthermore, the project improved the manufacturing quality and standards of condoms through new legislation. Considerable progress was made in cleaning up the blood supply. The states of Maharasthra, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal all recorded some special successes in their HIV programs. On the other hand, a number of states continued to perform poorly and have not yet developed effective HIV responses.
Building on initial phases of HIV/AIDS work, India now faces the challenge of quickly and effectively implementing programs in a number of states. Focusing on high-risk groups and low-cost prevention efforts, the Second National AIDS Control Project, approved by the World Bank in June 1999, is helping India to carry on the fight against AIDS in India. This project is part of India's overall HIV program in which there is good cooperation of development partners, under the leadership of the Indian National AIDS Control Organization. The project is a good basis for India's response to HIV/AIDS. India's success in stemming the HIV epidemic at this critical juncture will depend very much on effective project implementation.
Updated: July 2002
|
RSS