Redefining AIDS

·         On July 1, 2008 PM Dr Singh released  236-page report on "Redefining AIDS in Asia, crafting an effective response"

·         The report was sponsored by UNAIDS, Unicef and UNDP

·         Twenty-six countries have been covered by the report.

Mission IAS’2009

·         The commission comprising nine of Asia's leading development economists, scientists and policymakers working on AIDS, urged Asian countries to chart a new response to AIDS.

·         The commission, set up in June 2006, was assigned an 18-month mandate to study and assess the impact of AIDS in Asia and recommend strategies for a stronger response to HIV and AIDS.

·         C. Rangarajan, chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to PM, was chairman of the nine-member Commission

·         Almost five million Asians are currently infected with HIV, some 440,000 people got infected with HIV and 300,000 people died of AIDS-related diseases in 2007.

·         "Many Asian countries are lagging behind in their response to AIDS. At current levels of response, 10 million Asians are expected to be infected with HIV by 2020. By then, AIDS is also expected to claim an estimated 500,000 lives annually if governments do not change policies"

·         India accounts for roughly half the HIV-infected population of Asia.

·         About 2.5 million Indians were estimated to be living with HIV in 2006.

·         "AIDS has emerged as the single-largest cause of disease-related deaths and work days lost among 15-44-year-old adults in Asia"

·         The report notes that India has managed to slow down the epidemic in some states like Tamil Nadu, which provides an effective and focused HIV response.

·         "Asian leaders in places such as Thailand, Hong Kong, Cambodia and Tamil Nadu in India has the foresight to recognise the threat of AIDS early on; they provided leadership that proves vital for reversing their epidemics,"

·         With an estimated 10 male clients for every sex worker in Asia, the commission notes that men who go for unprotected commercial sex are "probably the single most important determinant of the size of HIV epidemics in most of Asia".

·         The commission has estimated the resource need of the region to halt and reverse the epidemic at $3.1 billion per annum.

• For a long-lasting and comprehensive response, however, the resource need would be $6.4 billion a year.