Aiyar contradicts Govt AIDS data

June 28, 2006

HT correspondent, New Delhi, June 28, 2006

Union Youth Affairs and Panchayati Raj Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar

courted controversy when he backed UNAIDS data that says India has

the highest number of AIDs cases in the world. India has officially

dismissed the UNAIDS figure of 5.7 million, sticking to its own

figure of 5.206 million for 2006.

" Though we have more HIV infected patients than any other country,

still 99 per cent of Indians are HIV free, " said Aiyar at the launch

of the Youth Unite For Victory on AIDS programme. In doing so, he

contradicted the claims of health minister Anbumani Ramadoss, who

had said he " totally disagreed with the UNAIDS report " .

The UNAIDS 2006 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic released last

month said India had 5.7 million HIV positive people.

Over the past three years, the Indian government has been recording

a plateauing in HIV/AIDS figures -- 5.106 million in 2004; 5.134

million in 2005, and 5.206 million in 2006 -- but the government has

explained it away as success in containing its spread and the fact

that it wasn't factoring in the people dying of AIDS.

UNAIDS cannot contain its glee. " We are happy that the Indian

government is accepting the figure of 5.7 million, " said UNAIDS

country representative Denis Braun.

" We had sent the figure of 5.7 million to the minister (Ramadoss) in

March. May be he didn't get time to go through the issue at that

time or didn't realise its importance, " he said.

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