The prevalence of HIV among adults (age group of 15 to 49) decreased to 0.33 percent (47,645 adults of the total population of Nepal) in 2010 from 0.39 (59,984 adults of the total population) in 2009, according to a forthcoming report of the National Centre for AIDS and STD Control (NCASC).
To meet Millennium Development Goals (MDG), Nepal has to bring down the prevalence rate to 0.30 by 2015.
In India, the HIV prevalence among the adult population in 2007 was 0.34 percent and in 2008 it was 0.29 percent, according to UNAIDS reports Kantipur.
The drop in the prevalence rate in Nepal also implies that the estimated number of HIV infections in the country has decreased significantly. In 2009, the NCASC had estimated there were 63,528 HIV infections in Nepal. The number has gone down to 55,626 now.
The estimation is done using a computer software called Estimation and Projection Package (EPP). It is carried out through the collection and subsequent entry of surveillance data and estimates of the size and high and low risk population groups into the EPP software.
According to Kantipur, the drop also means that awareness among adults has increased significantly over the years, a major achievement of the HIV/Aids intervention programme in the country.
The NCASC says the decline in Nepal is part of the worldwide fall in Aids-related deaths.
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