The report, released by Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, also says nearly 1.5 lakh lives have been saved due to free ART medicines provided to HIV/AIDS patients.

New Delhi: India has recorded a 57 percent drop in number of new HIV infections during the last decade, say latest figures from the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO).

India has demonstrated an overall reduction of 57 percent in estimated annual new HIV infections (among adult population) from 2.74 lakh in 2000 to 1.16 lakh in 2011, said a NACO report released Friday.

"Major contribution to this reduction comes from the high prevalence states where a reduction of 76 percent has been noted during the same period. However, rising trends of new infections are noted in the some of the low prevalence states," the report said.

The report, released by Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, also says nearly 1.5 lakh lives have been saved due to free ART medicines provided to HIV/AIDS patients.

"The latest round of HIV Sentinel Surveillance was completed in 2011. The data generated there has been used for estimation of HIV burden and projection of HIV epidemic trends in the country," a statement said.

"The HIV estimations 2012 indicate an overall continuing reduction in adult HIV prevalence, new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths in India".

Released on the eve of World AIDS Day, the report says adult HIV prevalence at national level has continued its steady decline from estimated level of 0.41 percent in 2001 through 0.35 percent in 2006 to 0.27 percent in 2011.

The estimated number of people living with HIV was 20,88,642 in 2011, the report said. It is estimated that about 1.48 lakh people died of AIDS related causes in 2011 in India. Deaths among HIV infected children account for 7 percent of all AIDS-related deaths.

It is estimated that around 1.16 lakh new HIV infections among adults and around 14,500 new infections among children occurred during 2011.

IANS