...... 68 RIGHT TO HEALTH 6.14 Based on the recommendations of the NHRC’s Core Group, the Chairperson of the Commission on 29 January 2004 addressed letters to the Prime Minister of India as well as to the Chief Ministers of States/Union Territories urging them to initiate action on the above recommendations [Annexure 8]. G] HIV/AIDS and Human Rights 6.15 In the annual report for 2001-2002, the Commission referred to its recommendations on a range of issues relating to Human Rights and HIV/AIDS in follow-up of the National Consultation on this subject which it organised in New Delhi on 24 - 25 November 2000, in collaboration with the National AIDS Control Organisation, Lawyers Collective, UNICEF and UNAIDS. The issues covered in the recommendations included: consent and testing, confidentiality, discrimination in health care, discrimination in employment, women in vulnerable environments, children and young people, people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS and marginalised populations. The detailed recommendations are available on the Commission’s web site www.nhrc.nic.in. During the period under review, the recommendations of the Commission were again sent to the concerned Governmental agencies for the initiation of appropriate action. The implementation of these recommendations was also reviewed by the Chairperson/Members of the Commission during their visits to a number of States during the year under review. 6.16 The Commission took cognizance of a media report, which was carried by NDTV, on the grave threat posed by AIDS in Andhra Pradesh. The Report, quoting official statistics at the Government Hospitals for July–August 2002, stated that in Vijayawada, almost one in every ten pregnant women and in Guntur, one in every twenty pregnant women coming to Government Hospitals, was testing HIV+ve. The Commission referred this news report to the Core Group on Health for its advice. The Core Group took note of the press report related to the high prevalence of HIV positivity among pregnant women attending antenatal clinics in Andhra Pradesh. While recognizing the grave threat posed by the expanding epidemic of HIV-AIDS in India, the Core Group noted that estimates derived from antenatal screening lack a population denominator and hence cannot provide a true population estimate. 6.17 Based on the Core Group’s advice in this regard, the Commission recommended that (a) public health action should focus on preventing mother to child transmission of the virus and measures to achieve this objective should receive prioritized attention from health policy makers at both central and state level and (b) a wider programme for the prevention of HIV/AIDS should conform to the recommendations made by NHRC as a follow-up of the national consultation jointly organized by the NHRC and UNAIDS in November 2000. NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION