The number of people infected with HIV/AIDS in India is between 2.5 and 3.1 million, almost less than half of previous official estimates, according to a new survey released by the government today and backed by the United Nations.

Not only does this put a question mark on the veracity of earlier counts, it also removes the country’s so-far dubious distinction of having the world’s biggest HIV-positive caseload with 5.7 million infections reported last year. The new estimate puts it below South Africa and Nigeria.

The prevalence level of the infection is now estimated to be around 0.36 percent of the population, down from the earlier 0.9 percent.

“In terms of human lives affected, the number is still large, in fact very large. This is very worrying for us,” said Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss. “We have spent so much on the programme and, finally, the results are there. But we have a long way to go. States like Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have shown good results, we want to replicate the success story all over the country. The declining figures will not mean reduction in funding, in fact it’s going to be more vigorous.”

Key to the reduction in the count is the use of a new survey methodology considered more precise. Previously, UNAIDS arrived at the 5.7-million figure by using hundreds of surveillance centres to test the blood of pregnant women and high-risk groups such as drug users and prostitutes over four months each year.

The fact that government surveillance centres are mainly frequented by the poor — who are more affected by HIV — and high-risk groups led to the national estimate to be skewed upwards, experts said.

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