The Hindu Business Line : Controversy prevails over number of HIV/AIDS cases

The recent slashing of official estimates on the HIV/AIDS prevalence in India from about 5.3 million in 2006 to between 2 million and 3.1 million has been received no differently.

P.T. Jyothi Datta

Mumbai, July 10 There has always been a cloud of controversy over the number of people living with HIV/AIDS in India.

And the recent slashing of official estimates on the HIV/AIDS prevalence in India from about 5.3 million in 2006 to between 2 million and 3.1 million has been received no differently, with stakeholders cautiously assessing the data.

But with a huge number of infected people still to be covered by the national programme that provides free AIDS medicines to patients, procurement from local drug-makers is unlikely to be affected, say industry-watchers.

Global Initiatives

The numbers are not relevant, since the gap between prevalence and those being treated is still very wide, said the Cipla Chief Executive Officer, Mr Amar Lulla. Cipla, Ranbaxy and Hetero are among the major Indian drug-makers that have supplied to the National Aids Control Organisation’s (NACO) free roll-out of anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) or AIDS drugs to patients across the country.

And these companies supply not just to local programmes, but to global AIDS programmes as well, driven by multi-lateral agencies or private initiatives like that of the Clinton Foundation. In fact, local companies have sometimes come in for the rough end of the stick for being more active in supplying to global initiatives, rather than back home.

Free Treatment

Cipla’s Mr Lulla disagrees with the observation.

“Companies cannot act like States,” he says. Citing examples of Brazil, Thailand and Africa, he points out that it was crucial for the system (run by the government) to be dynamic in procurement to cover a larger number of patients. An official with another major AIDS-drugs maker echoes similar thoughts.

India accounts for a fraction of the total global volumes of AIDS drugs sold by local companies, he said, though no numbers were divulged. When multilateral agencies procure, they do for a large number of markets and the volumes make it viable for drug companies, despite offering subsidised prices, he observed.

According to United Nation estimates about 10 per cent of the incidence are to be treated with ARV drugs.

That would mean about 3-lakh people in India, points out a representative with an AIDS-related advocacy organisation. At present, the free treatment covers anywhere between 60,000 and 75,000 people, he said.

CIA Report

But numbers have always been the bane of AIDS programmes in the country. In the past, India was touted to become home to about 25 million HIV/AIDS patients by 2020 by a CIA report.

This, however, had been officially refuted by the Indian establishment.

Despite the latest numbers nearly halving the official estimate of HIV/AIDS affected in the country, stakeholders are united in their opinion on the need to sustain and reinforce treatment and prevention programmes to keep the illness in check.