Efforts to increase access to HIV prevention and treatment services must be scaled up alongside societal efforts to eliminate homophobia

NEW DELHI, 5 July 2011 - UNAIDS lauds efforts by India's National AIDS programme to provide HIV services for men who have sex with men and transgender people. Currently around 67% of men who have sex with men in India are accessing prevention services. According to estimates of the National AIDS Control Organization, there are more than 400 000 men who have sex with men in India; HIV prevalence in this population is about 7.3% compared to a national adult HIV prevalence of 0.31%.