Prevalence of the infection among pregnant women has come down from 1.24% in 2005 to 0.53% in current year.
In tune with the global trend, the HIV/AIDS epidemic appears to be slowing down a little in Mumbai with the city registering a lower number of new HIV positive cases.
According to a study conducted by the Mumbai District AIDS Control Society (MDACS), the prevalence of HIV infection in pregnant women has come down from 1.24% in 2005 to 0.53% in 2010.
“The reduction in the number of HIV positive pregnant women is a let-up sign in new infection. We have been doing line listing through which we register the HIV-infected pregnant women coming for check-ups. In case they come for check-up again, we already have their case history. This has helped us in bringing down the number of HIV-infected pregnant women,” said Dr SS Kudalkar, project director, MDACS.
The city has seen a dip in overall AIDS cases too. If 5,420 AIDS cases were registered in 2007, there were only 2,942 cases in 2008 and 1,308 cases in 2009. “So far, we have registered 966 cases this year,” said Kudalkar.
The MDACS study also reveals that there is a marked change in the attitude and behavioural patterns of female sex workers in Mumbai towards use of condoms. The condom use amongst brothel-based female sex workers is as high as 98% in the case of paying clients.
“As a part of preventing the spread of HIV infection from core group, which is also called high-risk group, into the general population, MDACS is conducting targeted interventions to bring about behavioural change by providing awareness, condom promotion and STI treatment with the help of NGOs. Forty-one such projects are being carried out in high-risk population areas,” added Kudalkar.
The basic purpose of intervention among the most vulnerable and marginalised population is to reduce the rate of transmission through behaviour change and encourage health-seeking behaviour. The high-risk groups include female sex workers, men having sex with men, injecting drug users and the bridge population that includes migrant workers and truck drivers.
A United Nations AIDS (UNAIDS) organization survey shows that there is a dip in the number of HIV infection cases. Globally, HIV infection rates have fallen by nearly 20% in the past 10 years to 2.6 million in 2009 from 3.1 million in 1999. Also, AIDS-related deaths have come down by 20% in the same period across the world.
UNAIDS showed that India has 2.4 million HIV patients at present. The only factor clouding the happy picture is the fact that though seven lakh HIV-positive Indians need anti-retro viral therapy (ART), less than half have access to it.
In Mumbai, MDACS statistics show that 24,086 of 52,828 HIV-positive patients registered for care in the city received ART in the period between 2006 and 2010.
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