BMJ  2006;333:220 (29 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7561.220-b

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Officials cast doubts on UN report on HIV in India

New Delhi Ganapati Mudur

Indian health officials have cast doubts on a United Nations report that predicts the spread of HIV in India will slow down the country’s economic growth and reduce its gross domestic product by 11 trillion rupees (£127bn; €186bn; $234bn) by 2016.

The report from the UN Development Programme, which was published in New Delhi last week, said that the HIV epidemic would increase pressure on the public health system and create devastating social and economic problems among households affected by HIV.

Health officials in India said that although they agree about the effect of the disease on individual households the report’s predictions of how it will affect the national economy are based on gloomy forecasts.

The study assumed that the prevalence of HIV in India will rise from the current 0.9%, or 5.2 million HIV infected people, to 2.9%, or 19 million, by 2016.

But one . . . [Full text of this article]


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