An alarming picture of AIDS is emerging in the country. A report conducted by Dr Hari Krishna Baskota for UN-AIDS indicates that on average 14 people are infected with HIV/AIDS everyday in Nepal-that means more than 38,000 HIV/AIDS carriers by end of this year. While intravenous drug users comprise nearly half the population of HIV/AIDS carriers, commercial sex workers make up about 17 percent. It's time the government acted. In a follow-up seminar to the Sixth International Congress on AIDS in the Asia and the Pacific held in Australia last month, Health Minister Sharad Singh Bhandari said the government would soon constitute a special parliamentary committee on AIDS and develop a multi-pronged approach to prevent the spread of the disease.