Dandona L. "Enhancing the evidence base for HIV/AIDS control in India" NATIONAL MEDICAL JOURNAL OF INDIA 17 (3): 160-166 MAY-JUN 2004

[Eugene Garfield]

Dandona L : E-mail Addresses: dandona at asci.org.in

Title: Enhancing the evidence base for HIV/AIDS control in India

Author(s): Dandona L

Source: NATIONAL MEDICAL JOURNAL OF INDIA 17 (3): 160-166 MAY-JUN 2004

Document Type: Article Language: English
Cited References: 37      Times Cited: 0

Abstract: An optimum evidence base is necessary for the effective control of
HIV/AIDS in India, as the lack of an adequate evidence base on critical
issues leads to controversy and hurdles. To assess the trends in the
HIV/AIDS evidence base for India, a PubMed literature search for
publications from India in 2002 and 2003 on HIV/AIDS was done, and abstracts
from, India in one major international HIV/AIDS conference in 2002, and
presentations at one major HIV/AIDS conference in India in 2003 were
reviewed. The PubMed search revealed,145 papers with abstracts on HIV/AIDS
from India during this period, which was 1.4% of the worldwide HIV/AIDS
publications. Of these 145 publications, 124 (85.5%) were based on original
research and, of these, 27.4% were in the basic sciences, 62.9% in the
clinical sciences, and 9.7% in the public health sciences; 53.2% of the
original research papers were published in journals with impact factors
ranging from 0 to 1. Many vital issues for HIV control, such as validation
of the methods used to assess HIV burden in the population, large-scale
impact assessment of HIV prevention programmes, cost-effectiveness of HIV
interventions, and critical evidence-to-policy issues, were not covered. Of
the 8824 abstracts accepted for presentation at them XIV International AIDS
Conference 2002 at Barcelona, 8% were from India-a fair representation given
that India has about 10% of the world's HIV burden. However, the utility of
this information is severely limited with the majority of it not getting
translated into detailed papers in the peer-reviewed literature for
widespread scrutiny and use. The views expressed by many experts at the
Fourth International Conference on AIDS India 2003 at Chennai were
impressive, but the presentation and discussion on original research data
from India were sparse. From these various sources, it is estimated that the
available evidence base for HIV/ AIDS control in India is suboptimal. Using
certain assumptions, it is estimated that to provide an adequate evidence
base for the control of HIV/AIDS in India, quality original HIV/AIDS
research in India would have to double in the basic and clinical sciences,
and increase by more than 5 times for the public health sciences. Enhancing
this evidence base to an optimum level would require optimizing its demand,
systematically planning its supply locally in India and creating an
environment suitable for its development. To effectively control HIV/AIDS in
India, strategic planning is needed to develop an evidence base that covers
all critical areas where information is needed. Formation of a Society for
HIV/AIDS Research in India by involving all the major stakeholders could
help build up momentum towards establishing a comprehensive, relevant,
dynamic and long term evidence base that provides rigorous and timely
information needed for HIV/AIDS control.

KeyWords Plus: HEALTH; POPULATION; PREVALENCE

Addresses: Dandona L (reprint author), Adm Staff Coll India, Ctr Publ Hlth
Res, Raj Bhavan Rd, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh 500082 India
Adm Staff Coll India, Ctr Publ Hlth Res, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh 500082 India



Publisher: ALL INDIA INST MEDICAL SCIENCES, ANSARI NAGAR, NEW DELHI 110 029,
INDIA
Subject Category: MEDICINE, GENERAL & INTERNAL
IDS Number: 831XJ
ISSN: 0970-258X

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