India can end AIDS if all people with HIV are on effective treatment: ASICON

Mumbai: Describing even one HIV death as a death too many, Dr Ishwar Gilada said that India can end AIDS if all people with HIV are on effective treatment.

“If all people can secure the full range of HIV combination prevention, testing, treatment and care services they need, then we can arrest the further spread of infection along with helping people with HIV lead a healthy and productive life. To end AIDS, we need to ensure that no one is excluded,” said Mumbai-based Dr Gilada, President Emeritus at the 15th National Conference of the AIDS Society of India (ASICON 2024).

The theme of 15th ASICON is - “Informs, Reforms and Transforms HIV-care”, according to a press statement.

Dr Gilada, who is the President Emeritus of AIDS Society of India and Member Governing Council, International AIDS Society, said out of the estimated 24.67 lakh people living with HIV in India (second largest in the world), 16.80 lakhs are receiving the lifesaving antiretroviral therapy.

This includes 1.06 lakh people with HIV who receive their therapy from the private sector. As many as 79 per cent of the 24.67 lakh people know their HIV positive status, 86 per cent of those who know they are positive are receiving the antiretroviral therapy, and out of those receiving the therapy, 93 per cent are virally suppressed.

“Every person with HIV who is on treatment should get the viral load test regularly as it is important to ensure that the person is (and remains) virally suppressed, untransmittable, and healthy,” said Dr Gilada, who was the first person to raise the alarm on HIV in India and established India’s first AIDS Clinic in JJ Hospital Mumbai in 1986.

“The biggest killer of people living with HIV is the ancient disease, tuberculosis (TB). As per the latest WHO Global TB Report 2023, around 48,000 people were co-infected with HIV and TB, and 11,000 of them died of TB in India. When TB is preventable and curable then even one TB death is a death too many," said Professor (Dr) Dilip Mathai, President of AIDS Society of India (ASI), and former Head of Medicine Department, Christian Medical College Vellore.

"We can save lives if we ensure people with HIV are on effective treatment (antiretroviral therapy) and protected against TB. If they get co-infected with TB, then early and accurate diagnosis, and linkage to TB care is life-saving,” he added.