new delhi two of indias most controversial moves to combat hivaids legalizing homosexuality and the plan to introduce sex education in schools has found some fresh support from dr helene gayle us president barack obamas chief adviser on hivaidsdr gayle who is in india told toi in an exclusive interview that both these strategies will help reduce the stigma against marginalized communities and also help demystify sex thereby helping young indians grow up to become healthy sexual individualsshe said that hiv numbers are constantly dipping in india both decrease in cases due to better interventions and better tools to reach realistic estimatesbut indias decision to decriminalize homosexuality will greatly help reduce stigma and societal exclusion of populations like the gay community this will lead to more people of marginalized communities coming out in the open allowing hiv interventions to reach them recognizing sexual diversity is vital for any countrys fight against hivdr gayle who spent over 20 years as director of the aids programme at the us centers for disease control and prevention also advised india to have an age appropriate sex education modulethis will help youngsters make safe choices which in turn will help them emotionally and physically even in the us like in india the pendulum on sex education swung both ways from being restrictive to being open dr gayle saidsex education is already underway in most states however last year some states like maharashtra gujarat rajasthan karnataka madhya pradesh chhattisgarh and uttar pradesh were against the move fearing it would corrupt young mindsaccording to who early sex education delays the start of sexual activity reduces sexual activity among young people and encourages those already sexually active to have safer sex researchers have found no support for the contention that sex education encourages sexual experimentation or increased sexual activitydr gayle also criticised the nearly dozen countries who still ban entry of hiv patients us was one of them till last year when the senate repealed the legislation prohibiting hivpositive visitors and immigrants to enter the countryhaving such a ban does not have public health benefits its just discriminatory dr gayle saidat present countries like iraq china saudi arabia sudan qatar oman russia colombia south korea yemen and armenia ban entry of hiv patients some 67 countries around the world have a variety of hivspecific laws that restrict the entry stay or residence of people living with hivwarning the world against becoming complacent about hiv dr gayle said hiv continues to be a major infection there is unacceptably high rate of people being newly diagnosed with hiv we need new prevention tools like vaccines and microbicides governments should continue to put hiv as top priorityscientists in south africa are suggesting a radical shift in the fight against hiv they think that everyone initially in south africa but eventually in all high risk areas should be tested for hiv and if theyre positive be put on antiretroviral drugs for lifebut dr gayle said art greatly