India Aids control mission a successful global model

New Delhi: In existence for nearly two decades, India's HIV-Aids control mission has been the most successful global model to deal with the disease, the head of the country's Aids control panel said on Monday.

"Naco [National Aids Control Organisation] is a global success model. The way India has brought down HIV infections from nearly 50 per cent has been appreciated all across the world," Naco director general Sayan Chatterjee said at the South Asian Forum for Health Research here.

Surveillance

The work of the Aids control department, under the health and family welfare ministry, set up in 1992 to combat Aids, includes allocating funds to voluntary organisations and state Aids control bodies; structuring policies for targeted interventions all across the country; surveillance of the disease; and implementing programmes, among others.

The Naco chief said even though the country is third after South Africa and Nigeria in Aids statistics, identifying high-risk groups vulnerable to HIV has been one of its greatest achievements. India has a population of nearly 2.4 million HIV-positive people.

Mortality rate

"Our sentinel surveillance programme has shown that the mortality rate has reduced.

"However, men who have sex with men are still not showing a dip in HIV," Chatterjee said.

Countries participating in the health research forum include Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan.