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ART lowers death rate; HIV grips new States
There were 15,000 less AIDS-related deaths in 2009 when compared to 2008. A new Government report has revealed that as against 1.85 lakh deaths in 2008, 1.70 lakh persons died in 2009 owing to better health services.
But that is as much as there is of good news. The grim side of the story is that States like Assam, Odisha, Kerala, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Chandigarh, J&K, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya have shown an increase in AIDS-related cases over the past four years.
These States had hitherto been regarded as low prevalence States.
The ‘State Fact Sheets,’ released by the National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) recently, also notes that all the six high prevalence States including Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Nagaland have reported declining trend.
However, the threat from the fatal disease continues unabated. An analysis of the data indicates that many of the States with emerging epidemics and higher vulnerabilities are those with relatively poor health infrastructure and weak implementation capacities, governance and ownership of the program.
Moreover, shortage of Government funds as well as aid from global agencies for the programme is likely to hamper health activities in the sector.
“Any laxity or shortcoming in containing the disease in these States, also known as BIMARU States, will have severe impact on whatever achievements have been made so far by the sustained efforts of the NGOs and the Government,” a senior health official admitted. For instance, he pointed out that the adult HIV prevalence at national level has continued its steady decline from 0.41% in 2000 through 0.36% in 2006 to 0.31% in 2009. The decline in the number of AIDS related deaths is essentially due to the scale up of the antiretroviral therapy (ART) programme in India.
Another major reason is that the six high prevalence States account for only 39% while the States of Orissa, Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat together account for 41% of new infections.
“The changing patterns of HIV also warrant a relook at the grouping of States, beyond just high prevalence and low prevalence states,” the official pointed out.
There were 15,000 less AIDS-related deaths in 2009 when compared to 2008. A new Government report has revealed that as against 1.85 lakh deaths in 2008, 1.70 lakh persons died in 2009 owing to better health services.
But that is as much as there is of good news. The grim side of the story is that States like Assam, Odisha, Kerala, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Chandigarh, J&K, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya have shown an increase in AIDS-related cases over the past four years.
These States had hitherto been regarded as low prevalence States.
The ‘State Fact Sheets,’ released by the National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) recently, also notes that all the six high prevalence States including Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Nagaland have reported declining trend.
However, the threat from the fatal disease continues unabated. An analysis of the data indicates that many of the States with emerging epidemics and higher vulnerabilities are those with relatively poor health infrastructure and weak implementation capacities, governance and ownership of the program.
Moreover, shortage of Government funds as well as aid from global agencies for the programme is likely to hamper health activities in the sector.
“Any laxity or shortcoming in containing the disease in these States, also known as BIMARU States, will have severe impact on whatever achievements have been made so far by the sustained efforts of the NGOs and the Government,” a senior health official admitted. For instance, he pointed out that the adult HIV prevalence at national level has continued its steady decline from 0.41% in 2000 through 0.36% in 2006 to 0.31% in 2009. The decline in the number of AIDS related deaths is essentially due to the scale up of the antiretroviral therapy (ART) programme in India.
Another major reason is that the six high prevalence States account for only 39% while the States of Orissa, Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat together account for 41% of new infections.
“The changing patterns of HIV also warrant a relook at the grouping of States, beyond just high prevalence and low prevalence states,” the official pointed out.
