Our 1992 and 1997 covers on AIDS in India

AIDS is the last scourge of the last century. Like the bubonic plague that devastated Europe in the Middle Ages, its victims now number millions who are socially ostracised and denied basic care. What is worse is that the number of AIDS deaths in India remain ambiguous; therefore, the seriousness of the problem remains unknown. The AIDS virus destroys the immune system but its victims are diagnosed as having succumbed to pneumonia, tuberculosis or chronic fever, among other illnesses.

In 1992, we featured AIDS on our cover for the first time, putting the numbers of infected in India at 11,000. Today, official figures estimate that India's HIV-positive population is four million.

AIDS is fast rising to become the No. 1 health concern in the country. India is a repressed society with a large migrant population, where both sex education and organised monitoring systems are negligible. The AIDS epidemic that is silently sweeping through the country was a disaster waiting to happen.

There is no shortage of funding for AIDS or even of initiative in trying to tackle the problem. But, oddly, all that has added up to very little.

Our cover story this week looks at the chaos within the AIDS industry. There are as many policies as there are groups dealing with prevention, treatment, cure and education. This loose framework of governmental and non-governmental bodies has allowed too many crooks to slip through the cracks.

A big worry is that AIDS, a serious health issue, has also turned into an unmonitored social industry. Special Correspondent Shefalee Vasudev, who has tracked this story for the past two months, says, "It is shocking to discover that people are making a business out of human misery."

AIDS is a juggernaut. It cannot be stopped but the speed of its spread can be checked by a systematic campaign. India needs a unified national policy on AIDS. The alternative is an increasing number of the infected, a crushing burden on the healthcare sector and, in the end, huge social and economic trauma. AIDS, literally, is a life-and-death issue and India needs to get its act together.

(Aroon Purie)