"In India, data on HIV prevalence and facilities to deal with the problemare available unlike other countries in this region," said Mieko Nishimizu,WB vice-president (South Asia region). Nishimizu is in the country to reviewsome AIDS control projects. No data on HIV prevalence is available fromPakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Bangladesh, she said, adding theirsurveillance and control mechanisms are not as effective as India's.

Reassuring WB's support to India to control AIDS, Nishimizu who is visitingseveral AIDS project sites in Delhi and Chennai, said the country's successin controlling the AIDS pandemic would greatly influence the AIDS scenarioin the region. "India is acting like a HIV reservoir which, if breaks, willcause havoc in the entire South Asia," she said.