India on Verge of Eliminating Syphilis

India is making progress against syphilis, according to the National AIDS Control Organization. Prevalence has declined among female sex workers from 30 percent a few years ago to 4 percent, and among pregnant women from about 8 percent to less than 1 percent, NACO reported.

“STDs have dropped, thanks to the opening of more clinics,” said Dr. T.L.N. Prasad, technical expert at NACO. “There are 1,033 STD clinics in the government sector along with another 4,500 in the private sector. Earlier, there were 535 government-run STD clinics.”

Among the sexually active general population ages 15-49, 11 percent of women and 5 percent of men reported STDs in the previous 12 months, according to the 2005-06 National Family Health Survey. Syphilis seropositivity ranged from 1.7 percent to 39.6 percent among high-risk groups (HRGs) such as female sex workers, men who have sex with men, transgender individuals and injecting drug users.

“The [National AIDS Control Program Phase-IV], which will begin in 2012, will continue its focus on prevention activities,” experts said. “Some new activities of the program will be STD sentinel surveillance, scale-up of services for HRGs and bridge populations.”

Seven centers in India will monitor the susceptibility of gonorrhea to drug treatment, Prasad said. To fight drug resistance, government hospital STD clinics are using color-coded, pre-specified STD drug kits to help standardize treatment protocols. The government also has introduced a directly observed STD treatment program.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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