India
Only five percent of HIV positive people get Anti-retrovirals in India
By IANS
Apr 27, 2006, 13:39

A group of HIV positive people Wednesday voiced the need for making antiretroviral treatment (ART) widely available as "only five percent" of them currently had an access to it.

"Only five percent of the estimated 5.1 million HIV/AIDS infected people in India are able to access the ART treatment, which is being slowly scaled up," Colin Gonsalves, founder director of Human Rights Law Network (HRLN), told reporters here.

Striving to raise awareness about the continuing discrimination and stigma faced by people living with HIV/AIDS, the network's bimonthly magazine focuses on the lacunae in the legal system in its latest issue.

Jahnavi Goswami of the Assam Positive People's Network, Hari Singh of Delhi-based Love Life Society and Pawan Kumar of the Uttar Pradesh Network of Positive People also highlighted the paucity of medication available to them.

"With people from neighbouring districts and cities trying to access the limited supplies of medications whether in Delhi or Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, many of us do not get our regular course of medications," said Singh.

"This has left us vulnerable as even a day's miss weakens the immune system, while long gaps strengthen resistance to the ART drugs," he added.

Goswami said that in the 12 years of being diagnosed as HIV positive, a nutritive diet has helped her keep fit.

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