HIV infection rates fall by one-third in southern India

Washington, Mar 30 (UNI) HIV infection rates have fallen by one-third in the worst-hit regions of India, according to a new study published this week in The Lancet medical journal.

More than five-million people in India are infected with the HIV virus. Three-quarters of them live in the southern part of the country.

Mr Prabat Jha, Director of the Centre for Global Health and co-author of the study said, ''researchers found a one-third decrease in the number of new infections in southern India.'' ''This only suggests that the epidemic has turned around in the south. That is the good news, while in the north of India, where most of the population is uncertain about it is the bad news,'' Mr Jha said.

The study, led by investigators at the Centre for Global Health Research at the University of Toronto, focused on the effect of AIDS prevention measures taken in southern India, which is the hardest hit region of the country.

According to the experts, the southern region in India is most vulnerable to the spread of the virus because many males migrate there looking for jobs. The men visit HIV-positive prostitutes and infect their wives later.

To gauge the problem, researchers followed the medical histories of nearly 300-thousand young women, visiting 214 pregnancy and post-delivery clinics in both the north and south between 2000-2004.

Researchers did not find any significant decline in HIV infection rates in clinics in the northern part of the country.

Mr Jha attributed the drop, to several prevention campaigns undertaken by the Indian government and the World Health Organisation.

The study recommended continued surveillance in southern India, where the gains are recent, and northern India, where the signs of progress are nil.

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