The latest of report United Nations AIDS agency paints a grim picture for India. The report says that if the country fails to check the sharp rise in the number of intravenous drug users, HIV/AIDS infection will spread like wild fire.

Given India's population, the AIDS pandemic, if not immediately tackled, could far outstrip the devastation visited on many African countries, AIDS advocates warn. Experts believe that if not checked properly then there might be over 10 million of HIV/AIDS infected people by 2010 in the country. It may be recalled here that India has around 2.5 million people living with HIV/AIDS, the world's third highest caseload after South Africa and Nigeria.

Peter Piot, head of UNAIDS has said, “If we don't prevent new infections in new emerging populations like injecting drug users, it can go up as bushfires. We may see a major surge in infections.”
 
Piot is also very much concerned about the spread of drugs in the country. Speaking on this, he said, “Drug use is moving a bit everywhere, we can see it in Bihar, UP and in Kashmir, it is kind of moving across the northern part of the country.”

According to the official figures, nearly 10 per cent of intravenous drug users in India are infected with HIV. Perhaps most worrisome, AIDS is no longer confined to the high-risk groups who are believed to have been responsible for its early spread: prostitutes, their customers and users of injected drugs. The country's overall HIV/AIDS prevalence rate is about 0.9 percent for those aged between 15 and 49.