§ Dr. TongeTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment her Department has made of the rate of spread of HIV/ AIDS in(a) India, (b) Bangladesh, (c) Thailand and (d) Indonesia. [82239]
§ Clare ShortDFID is working closely with the Governments of both India and Bangladesh to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. India has a significant HIV epidemic, with prevalence in some states at around 2 per cent. The number of people with HIV/AIDS is estimated at 3.9 million. In Bangladesh, although HIV prevalence is less than 1 per cent., even in high risk groups, we recognise as a priority the prevention of its further spread.
We are currently considering what role there may be for DFID in working on HIV/AIDS in Indonesia, where evidence suggests that prevalence in certain places and in certain groups has risen quickly. Thailand is often held up as one of the world's success stories in combating HIV/AIDS, having reduced the number of new infections from 143,000 in 1991 to 29,000 in 2001. DFID has no bilateral programme there, but we do continue to monitor carefully the status of the epidemi.