In the past one year, around one lakh HIV infected people were placed on treatment in India. National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) indicates placing over four lakh HIV patients on life-saving anti-retroviral treatment (ART) end-April 2011, which is much higher than the target they had set.

Dr. B.B. Rewari, NACO’s ART Officer-in-Charge said, around 3.4 lakh patients would receive ART by April, 2012, meaning they would exceed their target before time.

However, ‘AIDS at 30: Nations at the Crossroads’, a new report published by UNAIDS Friday in commemoration of 30 years of AIDS contradicting NACO’s claims, said ART coverage in India only ranged between 21% - 40%.

Dr. Rewari said UNAIDS’ model was not agreed with, as it calculated all of India’s 2.3 million estimated HIV infected people, while estimated, teh 2.3 million were not to be found, detecting only 1.4 million HIV people of which 35% required treatment.  He said there were 9 million in India with HIV, but were not aware of their status, and could not be treated, even if they were infected.

He said ART coverage was not a big problem in India, identifying people infected with HIV being the bigger challenge.  Citing good ART regimens, Gilks said a HIV patient could be helped to live up to 25 years or more, if they had access to treatment, HIV/AIDS having become a life-long chronic disease.

Citing a 22-fold rise since 2001, UNAIDS report said around 6.6 million people were receiving ART in low and middle-income countries like India end-2010, with around 1.4 million people having started life-saving treatment in 2010.  In addition, 4.2 lakh children were also receiving ART end-2010, a 50% plus increase since 2008 when 2.75 lakh children were on treatment.

The results of a recent HPTN052 trial suggests if a HIV patient adheres to an effective ART regimen, the risk of transmitting the virus to an uninfected sexual partner is reduced by 96%.

Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director said, access to treatment would transform the response to AIDS in the next decade, and investment in accelerating access and finding new treatment options was a priority.