NEWS

From UNAIDS "epidemic update 2002"

HIV prevalence levels remain comparatively low in most countries of Asia and the Pacific. That, though, offers no cause for comfort. In vast, populous countries such as China, India and Indonesia, low national prevalence rates blur the picture of the epidemic.

Both China and India, for example, are experiencing serious local epidemics that are affecting many millions of people. India's national adult HIV prevalence rate is less than 1%, but an estimated 3.97 million people were living with HIV in India at the end of 2001 — the second-highest national figure in the world after South Africa. HIV prevalence among women attending antenatal clinics was higher than 1% in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Manipur, Nagaland and Tamil Nadu.

New behavioural studies in India suggest that prevention efforts directed at specific populations (such as female sex-workers and injecting drug users) are paying dividends in some states, in the form of higher HIV/AIDS knowledge levels and condom use. However, HIV prevalence among these key groups continues to increase in some states, underlining the need for well-planned and sustained interventions on a large scale.