The total number of HIV cases detected in the country, shows a decline over the years. The Minister of state for health and family welfare, S Gandhiselvan gave this information in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today. He said that based on HIV Sentinel Surveillance 2008-09, it is estimated that the adult HIV prevalence at national level has declined from 0.41 per cent in 2000 to 0.31 per cent in 2009. Mr. Gandhiselvan said that the estimated number of new annual HIV infections has also declined by around 56 per cent over the past decade from 2.7 lakh new infections in 2000 to 1.2 lakh in 2009