25 lakh gays in India, 7% HIV infected

India has an estimated 25 lakh gay population and about seven per cent (1.75 lakh) of them are HIV infected, Government told the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

"The population of MSM was estimated to be 25 lakhs in India," the governemnt said in its affidavit filed in the apex court, citing figures of the National Aids Control programme.

The affidavit, filed by Ministry of health, said that it is planning to bring 4 lakh high risk Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) under its AIDS control programme and it has already covered around 2 lakh.

It further said that estimated HIV prevalence among Female Sex Workers is 4.60-4.94 percent, and among MSM it is 6.54 -7.23 percent and in case of lnjecting Drug Users it is 9.42-10.30 percent.

The governemnt affidavit was filed in compliance with the Supreme Court's direction seeking detailed information on the number of homosexuals in the country and how many of them are HIV infected.
The governemnt submitted that there has been an overall reduction of HIV prevalence, HIV incidence (new infections) as well as deaths due to AIDS-related causes because of its AIDS control programme.