Background:
- NACO undertakes HIV estimations biennially in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) - National Institute of Medical Statistics (NIMS).
- The first round of HIV estimation in India was done in 1998, while the last round was done in 2015.
- The HIV Estimations 2017 is the 14th round in the series of HIV Estimations under National AIDS Control Programme (NACP).
Key findings of the report:
- India had around 21 lakh people living with HIV (PLHIV) with adult prevalence of 0.22%.
- Around 87 thousand new HIV infections and 69 thousand AIDS related deaths happened in 2017.
- 22,675 mothers needed Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) for prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV.
- Overall, the impact of the NACP has been significant with more than 80% decline in estimated new infection from peak of epidemic in 1995. Similarly, estimated AIDS related death declined by 71% since its peak in 2005.
- But there is no place for complacency as country move forward on ambitious goal of attaining the ‘End of AIDS’ by 2030.
