Good NewsHIV program prevents 100,000 infections in India
The $258 million Avahan project, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is one of the world's largest HIV prevention programs. A recent study found that the project's efforts in India may have saved an estimated 100,000 people from infection over five years.
This assessment, published in The Lancet medical journal, looked at the program from 2003 to 2008 in six Indian states, "home to 300 million people and the country's highest HIV rates when it started," the Associated Press reported.
The program targeted high-risk groups such as sex workers and truck drivers, intervening with condom distribution, needle exchanges and safe-sex counselling.
The assessment found that in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra, the higher Avahan grants per infected person correlated with fewer HIV cases in the general population. In Tamil Nadu and the small northeastern states of Manipur and Nagaland, however, the correlation didn't hold up.
Across all six states, it is estimated that 100,178 infections were prevented, "which is the best possible outcome with the available data," said co-author Dr. Lalit Dandona.
While some critics are quick to point out that it's hard to estimate averted infections—most large-scale HIV studies only monitor changes or trends in the epidemic—the conclusions are encouraging.
"There is substantial evidence that most new HIV infections in India arise from sex work, so taking sex work seriously means it will generate benefits," said Dr. Prabhat Jha, director of the Centre for Global Health Research in Canada. "Even if these are hard to quantify."
BBC News reports that the rate of new HIV infections in India has declined by more than 50 per cent in the past decade. The Indian government is expected to eventually take over the project.
