Meenakshi Datta Ghosh, project director of the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), said some 4.58 million Indians were living with HIV/AIDS at the end of 2002, a significant leap over the figure of 3.97 million the previous year.

"At the upper range, 4.58 million people are living with HIV/AIDS in the country according to our survey for 2002," Ghosh told an event on the eve of a parliamentary convention this weekend to plan strategies to battle the pandemic.

India, with a population of more than one billion, has the second largest number of people living with HIV/AIDS after South Africa, which has an infected population of around five million and a total population of about 42 million.

The United Nations' top official on AIDS, Peter Piot, who is here to attend the biggest forum on the AIDS crisis ever held in India, stressed the need for urgent implementation of prevention programmes.

"India has a king-sized problem. AIDS is spreading rapidly in the country. But it is a problem with a solution. We can act now before it is too late. India has the opportunity to turn around the epidemic," Piot, executive director of UNAIDS, told the briefing.

"As HIV prevalence continues to rise in some Indian states, the challenge now is to rapidly scale up AIDS prevention programmes nationwide, make them sustainable and ensure that AIDS treatment is widely accessible to people living with HIV/AIDS."

The National Convention of the Parliamentary Forum on HIV/AIDS, meeting in New Delhi on Saturday and Sunday, will gather over 1,000 legislators, state ministers, mayors and local leaders.

"Political leadership is vital to turning back the HIV/AIDS epidemic rapidly spreading in Asia. India and China have a large population and economy. The region is looking for leadership from these two countries and Indonesia," Piot said.

While he mentioned no names at the briefing, some of his remarks seemed to be aimed at Indian Health Minister Sushma Swaraj, a critic of so-called "condom-centric" prevention policies.

"Stigma kills. It is the best friend of the epidemic. In order to prevent the spread of HIV, a combination approach is required. We need to promote abstinence, delay of sex, faithfulness and the use of condoms. No single approach will work," said Piot.

Swaraj, under pressure from conservatives, recently told the press that her country's AIDS programme had to focus on sexual abstinence and faith rather than just condoms, a stance that elicited dismay among HIV campaigners.

"(India) has to act now before the epidemic infects tens of millions of people, which will surely happen if things continue down this path," Piot told AFP in an earlier interview in Paris.

His grim predictions are backed by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), whose director, Julie Gerberding, warned on July 3 that China and India were on the brink of following Africa down the path towards "catastrophe."

According to the US National Intelligence Council, the number of Indians with HIV/AIDS could reach 25 million by 2010.

"This is the most pessimistic estimate, but it is not impossible. This is why the time to act is now," Piot said.

TERRA.WIRE