INDIA, grappling with the world’s second largest number of HIV infections, has finally approved its long-awaited national AIDS policy—16 years after it detected its first case. But public health experts say it lacks the teeth to make it successful.
HIV infects just 0.75 per cent of the adult population in India—a lower prevalence than in Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand and many African nations. But with 3.97 million HIV cases, India ranks second only to South Africa in numbers of people infected.
Worse, a recent report from the UN Development Programme warns that the Asia-Pacific region has overtaken Africa in…
