Mother To Child HIV Transmission Continues To Be Major Concern In India

New Delhi, Dec 1: While India has made a significant effort in combating HIV/AIDS, the rate of vertical transmission, which happens from mother to child, remains a major concern in the country, according to a top HIV expert on World AIDS Day on Sunday.

However, "vertical transmission continues to be a major concern, because at least one-third of the women who are found HIV positive, do not reconnect with the antiretroviral therapy (ART) centre or the gynaecologist, and thus, cannot be given the medication which can stop the risk of transmission", Dr Ishwar Gilada, a noted HIV expert, told IANS.

Notably, it has decreased from over 40 per cent in 2010 to 24 per cent in 2021.

"Just two-thirds of the women, or 70 per cent, with HIV are being treated with ART. This is unacceptable. This should have been zero or near zero, maybe 1 or 2 per cent," he said.

Meanwhile, the Union Health Ministry on Saturday noted that India has outperformed the global reduction rate of HIV. There has been a 44 per cent reduction since 2010 -- with adult HIV prevalence recorded at 0.2 per cent and annual new HIV infections estimated at 66,400, the ministry said. India also aims to end AIDS by 2030.

"India being the pharma capital of the world, supplying 92 per cent of the ART medications to the rest of the world, can achieve the target," said Gilada, a Consultant in HIV/STDs, Unison Medicare and Research Centre, Mumbai.

Not being able to detect people who are HIV-positive is another major concern in the country.

"In India, this status is around 75 to 77 per cent. That means 18 per cent less than the achievable target of 95 per cent remains weak, which may hinder the target of no infection by 2030," the expert said.

Further, he emphasised the need to boost self-testing to enable people to test HIV at home.

"We need to provide pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for those people who are at risk of HIV, particularly vulnerable communities like communities like male sex with male or bisexuals or trans people, or people in the jails and demand homes where they are at risk," the infectious disease expert said.

He also stressed the need to roll out PrEP as part of the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP).

--IANS