India has highest number of people with AIDS virus

The office of India's Registrar General and Census Commissioner on Wednesday released a report that says about 11 million people in India could die of AIDS by 2026. It was reported that the population would be lopped by 1.2 percent.

The United Nations AIDS Agency reported that India has the highest number of people with the AIDS virus, overtaking South Africa earlier this year.

Mani Shankar Aiyar, India's minister for local self-government said that if care is not taken now to stop the AIDS epidemic, then the fate of South Africa will overshadow India too. Indian officials and ministers attending a national meeting of mayors and district council chiefs on Tuesday called on leaders in rural areas to join a nationwide campaign against AIDS.

Less health care facilities and poverty makes the rural area most vulnerable to the virus. To help India overcome the epidemic, government officials roped in thousands of rural politicians to spread the anti-AIDS message in the villages, where more than 60 per cent of Indians live.

The campaign was set in motion in New Delhi and will be sponsored by the Indian Government and United Nations AIDA Agency. The main aim of the campaign is to make AIDS education compulsory in schools, easy access to condoms. It will also train its leaders to help HIV-positive people.

On Sunday, Toronto will host the largest world's international AIDS conference. AIDS is one of the most pernicious diseases and causes death among adults below the age of 60.

The 16th International AIDS Conference will see 20,000 AIDS/HIV scientists; prestigious world leaders, advocates and HIV-positive patients gather in Toronto this weekend to make plans to fight with the most baneful disease.