HIV infections have declined by 56% during the last decade from 2.7 lakh in 2000 to 1.2 lakh in 2009 in our country. This was stated by Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad, Minister of Health and Family Welfare at the International HIV Vaccine Symposium in New Delhi today.
Addressing the inaugural ceremony, Shri Azad said that HIV was detected in India over 25 years ago. Valuable knowledge and experience has been accumulated as a result of extensive interventions for control of the epidemic and it seems to be stabilizing now. India is among the few countries which have made significant reductions in HIV infections.
The national response to HIV/AIDS in India is implemented through the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) and “Prevention and Care” as well as “Support & Treatment” form the two key pillars of all HIV/AIDS control efforts in India. This strategy has yielded encouraging outcomes over the last decade. New evidence from the latest round of HIV Sentinel Surveillance shows further decline in the HIV Prevalence among general population as well as high risk groups. This has been possible due to political support at the highest levels to the various interventions under National AIDS Control Programme, including from Parliamentarians and elected leaders at the State and Local Levels and cooperation received from NGOs, civil society and the Media.
One of the successful interventions of the national AIDS control programme has been the Targeted Interventions (TIs), whose main objective is to improve health seeking behavior of high risk groups and reducing their vulnerability and risk to acquire Sexually Transmitted and HIV infections. There are 1,821 Targeted Interventions providing prevention services covering 81% Female Sex Workers, 80% Injecting Drug Users, 64% Men having sex with Men, 40% Migrants and 57% Truckers.
Shri Azad said that the trend of annual AIDS- related deaths is showing a steady decline since the roll out of free ART programme in India in 2004. Besides the domestic programme, India has been providing around 80% of global ARV drug demand. Vaccines have been frequently cited as one of the most equitable low-cost, high-impact public health measures.
Historically, vaccines have impacted significantly the spread of infectious diseases such as smallpox, polio, measles, and yellow fever. The eradication of smallpox was an outstanding display of concerted global action in a war against microbial invaders. The progress in expanding polio and measles vaccination efforts and their elimination from many regions further demonstrated that vaccines are among the most powerful public health tools.
Shri Azad said that India is committed to new forms of partnership with low-income countries through innovative support mechanisms and South–South cooperation. He hoped that this joint venture will collectively shape the future of India’s inputs into the global HIV vaccine development attempts.
Symposium
Objectives
The main
objectives of the Symposium include:
·
Sustain the momentum India has achieved so far in
its emergence as a Center of Excellence in HIV Research
·
Complement its global leadership in vaccines as a
whole by organising a scientific deliberation to enable a better
understanding of the complexities of working in the field and recent advances
and also help identify the future programmatic content and conduct in India in
the field of HIV vaccine research and development.
·
Provide a common platform to the participants from
varied fields of basic and translational research from both academia and
industry to deliberate on recent advances and identify approaches for end point
research through collaborations and innovative concepts for vaccine development
for HIV/AIDS.
·
Deliberate the need for an environment that
promotes sustained, well funded, innovative research to capitalize on new
scientific insights.
Symposium
Attendees (Approximately 300 in Nos)
·
The meeting intends to be a unique
blend of executive and legislative leadership with policymakers and key opinion leaders from
o
Ministry of Science and Technology and
its various Departments like Department of Biotechnology, DST and CSIR
o
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
and its key relevant Departments like the Department of Health Research and The
Department of AIDS Control
o
Members of the Forum of Parliamentarians
on HIV/AIDS
o
Representatives from:
§ International
Governments
§ Multilateral
agencies like UNAIDS, USAID, WHO etc
§ Key
civil society organizations working in India in the area of HIV/ AIDS
§ Key
scientists from Public and Private Sector Institutions from India working in
the area of Vaccine Research and HIV/AIDS
o
12 key global scientific experts.
Expected
Outcomes
·
Encourage deliberations and work
towards articulating a road map amongst policy makers, scientists, researchers,
multilateral organizations and community experts on the multifaceted approach
to HIV vaccine development, and prioritize an Indian Roadmap for research in
Prevention Tools of HIV especially a preventive HIV vaccine
·
Highlight the continuous efforts taken
by India in HIV Vaccine research and associated technologies, which has
facilitated its emergence as a leader in this field
·
Serve as a platform to engage
Executive leadership and Legislature at the meeting towards prevention efforts
needed in India for this disease. It shall also empower the community through
consensus building with knowledge and a clear strategic mandate on current and
future R&D efforts needed in discovery, technology development, product
development and clinical development, which are relevant for India.
·
Facilitate National and international
co-operation and collaborations to harness modern scientific and technological
advances for an HIV vaccine
·
Facilitate future HIV vaccine design
efforts globally and accelerate development of platform technologies, which can
be translated to other infectious disease areas of public health importance in
India through discussions among scientists and developers from both public and
private sectors in India and globally, policymakers, key opinion leaders.
Minister of State for Planning , Science & Technology and earth Sciences Mr. Ashwani Kumar in his addresse said," Although the right to health is a universal
aspiration, the key barrier to ensuring the fulfillment of this aspiration is
the inadequate development of technologies to prevent, diagnose and treat the
disease. The challenges at the same time are enormous.For
Instance,
· Even if the number of new HIV infections continues
to decline at current rates, there will still be more than 22 million new
infections by 2015.
· Fewer than one in five people at greatest risk of
infection have access to effective prevention programs, such as education,
condom distribution, prevention of mother to child HIV transmission, and HIV
testing.
We believe that
the new HIV infections could be significantly reduced if effective prevention
programs are expanded and reach those at greatest risk of HIV infection.
·
The
global momentum behind the call to find a cure for AIDS epidemic has reinforced
the case for the use of a combination of prevention strategies. The past ten
years of HIV prevention activities are beginning to show results. Despite the
enormity of the challenge we still face , the number of new cases of HIV / AIDS
annually have shown a substantial decline from about 2,70,000 cases earlier to about
120000 cases. Research efforts and technological solutions need to be
significantly accelerated, particularly with a view to extend our outreach to
those who have still no access to the treatment.
·
If
scaled with resources and a sense of urgency, a preventive strategy, supported
by other key interventions, can save lives, prevent new infections and lower
the cost to fund the global fight against AIDS. Significant recent research
breakthroughs in the area of HIV-prevention, particularly in terms of ARV-based
prevention methods such as pre-exposure prophylaxis and the provision of early
treatment to prevent HIV transmission are important contributions of ongoing
research.
·
We
must find ways of developing vaccines that help us overcome the
difficulties posed by nature. Insights and lessons from recent advances in the
field of HIV Vaccine R&D, particularly the findings of the RV-144 and
the discovery of the broadly neutralizing antibodies give us hope and a sense
of optimism.
·
Given
the complexity of the task, the best minds must work together in furtherance of
the objective of collaborative science .India remains committed to working
towards the development of new technologies and we will provide necessary
support to scientists and clinicians for this purpose.
·
We
are delighted to learn that some of the leaders in research are participating
in the science symposium being organized as a part of this meeting. I am sure
that this meeting will instill great hope in the people of India and
worldwide who are looking toward science for evidence-based prevention
interventions for HIV, such as a Vaccine.
·
It
is noteworthy that all research agencies be it in the Ministry of Science &
Technology and Ministry of Health & Family Welfare are working together and
have established close and effective collaborative efforts for accelerating
our research work and that this national effort is closely networked with
leading AIDS research institutes in the world.
·
The
Union Ministry of Science and Technology, is encouraging our best scientists
and technologists to engage in finding solutions to major public health challenges
such as AIDS, TB, and Malaria etc. We have also floated many novel mechanisms
by which academia, industry and public health experts can work together to
develop effective preventive and therapeutic technologies. We are establishing a
large number of centers of excellence where science, medicine and engineering
can be linked to design novel solutions and technologies.
·
A
fine example is the HIV Vaccine Design Programme, which has been established by
our Department of Biotechnology, in a collaborative partnership between the
Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI) and the
International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. The research work will aim to understand the biological processes
connected to the HIV infection to design a novel vaccine. The focus will be on
the subtype-C of HIV found in India
predominantly.
·
Let
me take the opportunity to once again express our immense pleasure in hosting
this conference. May I congratulate the local organizing committee,
distinguished guests, and representatives from various backgrounds who are
participating in the deliberations . I wish the
conference well as it progresses over these two days. I am sure that novel
presentations and debates will indicate new ways of enhancing the work in the
field of HIV research. I am delighted that professionals, political leaders,
scientists and many other stakeholders are engaging with each other through
conferences like these."
Shri
APJ Abdul Kalam, Former
President of India, Shri Ghulam Nabi
Azad, Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Shri Oscar Fernandes, Chairman of Forum of
Parliamentarians on HIV AIDS also addressed the Symposium.
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