‘86% get HIV treatment because of Indian drugs’

Michel Sidibé says UNAIDS aims to halve HIV transmission by 2015

Michel Sidibé, executive director of UNAIDS and Under Secretary-General of the United Nations, was in India to talk about targets set by the recently-held UN General Assembly high level meeting on AIDS. It envisaged halving sexual transmission of HIV by 2015, ensuring anti-retroviral treatment for 15 million people in four years, and more. An interview:

Q Some of these targets seem a little too ambitious.

Until a few years ago, only a few countries like Senegal, Uganda and Thailand were successful in bringing down infection levels. Today, 56 countries have done it. South Africa has managed to bring its infection down by 45 per cent and India by 50 per cent. These targets are achievable. 

Q How can India help?

A None of these goals can be achieved without India. Eighty-six per cent of people across the world are receiving treatment because of drugs manufactured by Indian companies. But the issue of many people within this country not having access to anti-retroviral treatment needs to be addressed immediately.

Q What were the landmark moments in the global response to HIV/Aids?

A The discovery that circumcision can lower the risk of infection by 60 per cent; or the fact that putting people on treatment early can reduce infection by 96 per cent. There is also a special gel that women can apply which reduces the infection risk by 60 per cent.

Q Could you share some experiences that moved you?

A I was in north Uganda ten to 11 years ago when I came across a 13-year-old girl who had been kidnapped and raped by rebel forces. She was pregnant and HIV positive. When I was about to leave, she asked “Why me?” That one question moved me so much. When you meet these people, hear such stories, it makes you want to fight for the cause even more.

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Avantika Bhuyan