According to new data of UNAIDS, India’s HIV-infected population has fallen from 5.2 million last year to 2.5 million, leading global estimates from 40 million to 33 million in 2007 AIDS Epidemic Update. Reportedly, there are two reasons for the downward revisions – better data and an actual decrease in the number of new HIV infections.

The number of new infections peaked in 1990s at 3 million is also reduced to 2.5 million for 2007. People with HIV are living longer with a person living up to 11 years after getting infected without being treated, up from the earlier 9 years. UN experts said that revised numbers are a combination of natural trends in the epidemic and HIV prevention efforts.

“Of the total difference in the estimates published in 2006 and 2007, 70 per cent are due to changes in six countries: Angola, India, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe,” the report says. Africa is the most infected with 22.5 million people infected with HIV.

NACO’s director general Sujatha Rao said, “The estimates for India is more reliable than before because the data base has been expanded to include 1,122 sentinel surveillance sites – up from 702 in 2005 – and the National Family Health Survey-III surveys.”

UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot, said, “These improved data present us with a clearer picture of the AIDS epidemic, one that reveals both challenges and opportunities. But with more than 6,800 new infections, and over 5,700 deaths each day due to AIDS, we must expand our efforts in order to significantly reduce the impact of AIDS worldwide.”

Mr Chakravarti Rangrajan, a close friend and advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is also playing role as the chairman of a pan-Asian commission studying the impact of HIV/AIDS in the Asian region. He’s met sex workers around Chennai’s port area, in Bangladesh, Thailand and the Philippines, drug users in Malaysia, and HIV+ people across Asia.

Rangrajan said, “For a time, I was really very deeply involved in these issues.” UNAIDS, the joint UN programme for HIV/AIDS has sponsored the commission’s study.

Commission’s members included McKinsey senior partner worldwide Rajat Gupta, head of China’s AIDS program Dr Wu Zunyou and Indonesian activist Frika Iskander , who is HIV+ herself and heads a pan-Asian network of HIV+ people.

“Even among people with STIs, it’s possibly those with HIV/AIDS who might be more likely to go to a clinic.” But he strongly refutes allegations of deliberate over-estimation, in order to ensure continued funds.