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 "I am more scared of HIV now," said Shaalu, 32, who often resorts to
unsafe sex as free condoms are scarce and she is hard pressed for
funds to repay a debt of $4,500.
India provides free condoms under its community-based AIDS
prevention program that targets high-risk groups like sex workers.
That strategy, the World Bank estimates, helped avert 3 million HIV
infections between 1995 and 2015.
But government data released last week showed about two-thirds of
India's 31 state AIDS units had less than a month's supply of
condoms. Some states only have enough for a few days.
Reliable supplies are key - experts fear that the shortage could
lead to more unsafe sex and increased infections, especially among
the poor.
The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS can be
transmitted via blood, breast milk or unprotected sex. The incurable
infection killed 130,000 people in India and 1.5 million globally in
2013, the World Health Organization says.
"Not having the only barrier method at the doors of those who need
it is catastrophic," said Mona Mishra, an activist who runs a
national AIDS Momentum campaign.
The shortages come after Prime Minister Narendra Modi slashed
federal AIDS funding in February by a fifth. Modi hoped states would
fill the gap, but the cut came as regional AIDS units faced
bureaucratic payment delays.
An official at India's National AIDS Control Organization (NACO),
which runs the program, blamed the condom shortage on the federal
cuts and a delayed procurement tender that was recalled due to
technical discrepancies.
NATIONAL WOES
Condoms in the open market are cheap, but female sex workers often
hesitate to buy them from a medical store due to social taboos.
[to top of second column] |
Mostly from poor families, these women were under pressure to have
unsafe sex if clients didn't carry their own condoms, said Kusum,
head of the All India Network of Sex Workers that represents 200,000
women.
In the western state of Maharashtra, the stock of free condoms was
one-eighth of its monthly requirement of 3.3 million condoms on Oct.
17.
Despite recent hiccups, India's AIDS program has won praise globally
- HIV prevalence among female sex workers almost halved to 2.67
percent during 2007-2011 and new infections have fallen in recent
years.
The NACO official in New Delhi said free condom supplies should
improve in the next 15-20 days.
But for Shaalu, who only gave her working name, AIDS budget cuts and
condom shortages are a double shock - she last received her 3,000
rupees ($46) monthly salary for promoting safe sex as a "peer
educator" in April.
"The government should at least give us condoms so that we can earn
money," she said. "If we get infected, we will die."
(Reporting by Aditya Kalra; Editing by Douglas Busvine)
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