8216;NACO will be independently assessed8217;

What is your take on the HIV/AIDS scenario in India?We have a problem, there is no reason to be complacent. To have 5.1 million people affec...

What is your take on the HIV/AIDS scenario in India?
We have a problem, there is no reason to be complacent. To have 5.1 million people affected by AIDS is not a small issue. However, though the numbers are the second largest in the world, the prevalence is low 8212; less than one per cent of the population is affected. The percentage is lower than Thailand, Myanmar and South Africa, which have large sections of the population effected by the epidemic. Tamil Nadu, in particular, has been performing extremely well.

And the way NACO is dealing with the situation?
NACO is doing good work but it can do even better. That is why the health ministry is planning an external review or an external assessment of the way NACO works. The external agencies will include IIM Ahmedabad and Bangalore, McKinsey and health experts. We want to be told what we are lacking, what we need to do. We also need to find out how we sustain our work. Some restructuring may be inevitable.

What about the government policy on AIDS control? Are any changes likely?
The AIDS control programme was launched in 1992 and most of the focus was on the prevention programmes. But now the government8217;s focus is more on prevention. AIDS cannot be cured but we can definitely provide care to people.

The government has promised to provide anti-retroviral treatment to about 100,000 patients in five years. The treatment is being provided at eight hospitals in the country at present. We have plans to increase the number to another 25 hospitals by the end of this year. We are assessing the infrastructural needs and providing CD-4 machines to the hospitals.

Any other plans?
India is the only country in the world to have a parliamentary forum on HIV. We have plans to include the grassroots levels, including the panchayats, in it. Students8217; unions have been invited to take part in it too. A meeting in November, in fact, will include students from all over the country . We are doing good work in the high-prevalence states, but the low-prevalence states cannot be ignored at this point. We will also focus our work in low-prevalence states.

What8217;s the news on the vaccine front?
Various departments in the government are working on various vaccines. The Health ministry has had discussions with the ministry of Biotechnology under minister Kapil Sibal. We have decided that the best vaccine will be identified and all efforts will go into that one vaccine.