The Hindu Business Line : World Bank warns of rapid spread of AIDS in S. Asia

The HIV and AIDS epidemic could grow rapidly in the eight countries of South Asia unless they, especially India which is largest in the region, manage to saturate with better HIV prevention measures high-risk groups such as sex workers and their clients, injecting drug users and men having sex with men , says the new World Bank report launched at the 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto, Canada.

According to the new report - AIDS in South Asia: Understanding and Responding to a Heterogeneous Epidemic - more than 5.5 million people are infected with HIV in South Asia, with the epidemic increasingly driven by the flourishing sex industry and injecting drug use. Among the reasons contributing to this are regional risk factors such as poverty, discrimination, low status of women, trafficking of women for the sex industry, widespread migration and limited condom use.

The report points out that in India most NGOs have focused their HIV prevention work on migrant men rather than the one million vulnerable sex workers. Besides, South Asia's most severe epidemic is in parts of India, particularly in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Goa and Maharashtra where sex work is the critical driver of HIV transmission.

The report recommends a two-pronged approach to halt the spread of the epidemic: first, establishing an effective prevention programme for groups at increased risk of HIV infection and involving them in the prevention process and second, resolving the social and economic drivers of the epidemic such as poverty, stigma, and sex trafficking of women.

Regional co-operation

Regional co-operation within South Asia is also seen as a key to stem the epidemic. "Preventing HIV infection among sex workers in Nepal would certainly be more effective if they were co-ordinated with efforts in India focusing on migration and sex worker trafficking, especially to Mumbai," says Dr Mariam Claeson, World Bank HIV/AIDS coordinator for South Asia. The report also cites the example of the cross-border drug trade and sexual networks between the highest prevalence districts in northeast India, parts of Bangladesh, and Myanmar.

"Reaching and involving people at risk of HIV is the greatest challenge in South Asia because they're frequently marginalised within their own communities. But our experience shows that where governments, civil society and other partners make a concerted effort to work closely, including these at-risk groups, you can achieve positive results," says the report.

The World Bank has supported efforts to fight AIDS in South Asia since the first National AIDS Control Project for India in 1992, and has committed $380 million to current national programmes.

More Stories on : Health | RBI & Other Central Banks

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page