Sharp drop in HIV cases in India

India had witnessed a sharp decline in the number of new HIV cases — a 56 per cent drop — in the past 10 years.

“HIV infections have declined by 56 per cent during the last decade from 2.7 lakh in 2000 to 1.2 lakh in 2009 in our country,” Indian Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said in the national capital. “This has been possible due to political support at the highest levels to the various interventions under National AIDS Control Programme, including Parliamentarians and elected leaders at the state and local levels and cooperation received from NGOs, civil society, etc” the minister said at a symposium while addressing an international HIV vaccine symposium.