India’s AIDS-control performance places it among the stronger global responders, especially in the Global South. Its decline in new HIV infections over the past decade has been faster than the global average, and its ART coverage has expanded steadily even through pandemic-era disruptions. Countries such as Rwanda and Thailand also stand out globally. Rwanda for reaching near-universal viral-load suppression through aggressive community-led treatment, and Thailand for its early adoption of universal ART and prevention-first strategies.
India’s trajectory is not as steep as of Rwanda or Thailand, but its scale and population complexity make its decline in infections and stabilisation of AIDS-related deaths comparatively significant.
Yet the contrast becomes sharper when looking at gaps. India still contends with uneven access across states, slower uptake of preventive tools like PrEP, and persistent stigma that countries like Rwanda have tackled more directly through grassroots empowerment.
Structural inequalities, key-population vulnerabilities, and inter-state disparities slow down India’s pace relative to global “high-performance” models. The upside is India’s strong financing, nationwide network of targeted interventions, and legal protection under the HIV/AIDS Act 2017.
The downside is progress remains fragile, dependent on sustained political will, better testing coverage, and community-driven innovations that other frontrunners have already mainstreamed.
The two worst-performing states currently appear to be Mizoram and Nagaland. Mizoram has the highest adult (15–49) HIV prevalence in the country, 2.73 percent, which is many times above the national average of 0.20–0.22 percent. Nagaland too shows a worryingly high prevalence of 1.37 percent among adults, again well above the national average.
Beyond prevalence, other states such as some in the northeast (e.g. Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya) have seen an uptick in new infections since 2010, which also drags overall national progress.
The government says National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), under the National AIDS and STD Control Programme (NACP), has steered the country’s HIV/AIDS response through sustained effort since the epidemic first emerged. The national response dates back to the mid-1980s when sero-surveillance, blood safety and awareness generation laid the foundation. The program was institutionalized in 1992 with the launch of NACP.
Over time, NACP evolved through multiple phases — from awareness and prevention to integrated care, testing and treatment.
Today, NACP is in its Phase-V (2021–2026), backed by a budget of ₹ 15,471.94 crore. This phase aims to build on earlier gains, with an overarching goal of helping the country meet the global target of ending HIV/AIDS as a public-health threat by 2030. The strategy under Phase-V covers prevention, testing, treatment, stigma reduction, and universal access to quality services for vulnerable populations.
Under this phase, the government has scaled up awareness efforts across the country. Outreach includes multimedia campaigns, outdoor hoardings, information kiosks, folk performances, bus-panels and IEC vans. There is also a strong focus on community-level engagement: self-help groups (SHGs), Anganwadi workers, ASHA workers, and members of local panchayats are being trained and sensitized.
As of October 2025, there are 1,587 “Targeted Intervention” projects across India, designed to ensure that high-risk groups get equitable access to prevention, testing, treatment and care.
To protect the rights and dignity of people living with HIV (PLHIV), the HIV/AIDS (Prevention and Control) Act, 2017 prohibits discrimination and ensures confidentiality and informed consent for testing/treatment. Under this law, Ombudsmen have been appointed in 34 States/UTs to handle grievances related to discrimination against PLHIV.
The broader message: India’s fight against HIV/AIDS has moved from crisis-management and emergency response to a rights-based, prevention-to-treatment continuum – embedding HIV services into public health infrastructure, combining prevention, testing, treatment, and societal support, and involving communities at every level.
Compared with global trends, India’s progress stands out: the country has achieved a steeper decline in new HIV infections than the global average, thanks to sustained interventions, expanded ART (antiretroviral therapy) coverage, and robust preventive and awareness efforts.
The 2025 World AIDS Day theme “Overcoming disruption, transforming the AIDS response” underscores the need not just to preserve gains, but to transform HIV services: making them more resilient, equitable, and community-led, especially in the face of disruptions from pandemics, conflict, or inequalities that hamper access to care.
India does presents itself as a global success story, shifting from reactive to preventive, from stigma to rights, and from fragmented care to integrated public-health strategies, all undergirded by strong policy, large-scale funding, and grassroots community engagement.
