India is the country with second largest population of HIV-infected individuals. First case of HIV was detected in 1986 in Chennai. Current estimates of HIV infection among the adults between the age 15-49 years is 0.7 %. HIV is increasingly being diagnosed among the housewives and pregnant women and not among the high-risk groups.
AIDS researcher Mr. Mohammad Khairul Alam said, “HIV/AIDS is a three dimensional disease. It spreads out by three major causes:- such as unconscious or unsafe sexuality, blood exchange(needle) /transfusion for patients, infected mother to child. HIV/AIDS direct by impact on the human body - it paralyze the physical condition, psychological morbidity and destroy social value. It also wipes out three things, such as it affects adults in their productive prime, severely hampers economic growth of person, and hampers his family, at last by rotation it destroys country’s progress. Every one can protect it by avoiding risk behavioral sex (multi-partner sex, unsafe sex practice etc), by avoiding injectable drug (needle sharing is a burning cause of it), by avoiding getting blood without test. Nation wide programme is also needed to take three major strategies:- top to bottom awareness programme of HIV/AIDS, gender discrimination programme to ensure girls and women rights, poverty reduction programme�.
India is experiencing rapid and extensive spread of HIV. This is particularly worrisome since India is home to a population of over 900 million. As a single nation it has more people than the continents of Africa, Australia and Latin America combined. There are an estimated 5.1 million people infected with HIV in India today, and 70,000 to 100,000 cases of AIDS may have already occurred in the country. The Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallyan Foundation identified four major approaches in a groundbreaking study on spread out HIV in Asia. This study undertook by comparing of social-economic norm, family pattern, economic dependency, cause of mounting sex industries, gender discrimination status & global analysis fact. There are four factors that appear to play a crucial role in HIV transmission in Asian countries: Injection/ intravenous drug use (By sharing needle), female sex work (Due to lack of safe sex knowledge), gender discrimination (which indirectly force females commercial or non-commercial sex), Same sex/ homosexually/ Hijara (Due to lack of HIV/AIDS information, because they act invisible in this society). Poverty & illiteracy fueled it proportionally.
HIV prevalence among drug users in India indicates a differential epidemic characterized by unacceptably high levels in certain areas (Manipur with a reported HIV prevalence of 80 per cent), high prevalence rates (above 5 per cent) in many cities of India with a concentrated IDU population (Chennai, Mumbai, New Delhi), and low level prevalence in certain areas like Calcutta (<2% HIV seroprevalence for the past seven years). In some areas of India, the population segments at risk for drug use and high-risk sex overlap. In Manipur, the transmission of the HIV virus from injecting drug users (IDUs) to their spouses has been established, and a study found that 45 per cent of the wives of HIV-infected IDUs were also HIV-positive.
The most rapid and well-documented spread of HIV has occurred in Bombay and the State of Tamil Nadu. In Bombay HIV prevalence has reached the level of 50 percent in sex workers, 36 percent in STD patients and 2.5 percent in women attending antenatal clinics. Certain regions, such as eastern India (Calcutta area) and northern India (New Delhi region), still show a lower prevalence of HIV (1 to 2 percent) among sex workers.
HIV is rapidly spreading to rural areas through migrant workers and truck drivers. Surveys show that 7 to 10 percent of some truck drivers in the country are infected with HIV. An estimated 1 to 2 million cases of tuberculosis occurs in India every year. In Bombay 10 percent of the patients presenting with tuberculosis are HIV-positive. Tuberculosis is the presenting symptom of AIDS in over 60 percent of AIDS cases.
Contrary to traditional belief, sexually transmitted diseases and sex with multiple partners are common in the country, both in urban and rural areas. An estimated 3 to 4 percent of some rural populations have a sexually transmitted disease. Injecting drug use is a problem in Manipur, which is in the North East region, where 55 percent of drug users are HIV-infected and 1 percent of women attending antenatal clinics are infected with HIV.
References: Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallyan Foundation, UNAIDS
-AIDS is spreading alarmingly in India-
-Ms. Mahmuda Begum-
-Health & Nutrition Researcher-
-Mahmuda.Dhaka@gmail.com-
India is the country with second largest population of HIV-infected individuals. First case of HIV was detected in 1986 in Chennai. Current estimates of HIV infection among the adults between the age 15-49 years is 0.7 %. HIV is increasingly being diagnosed among the housewives and pregnant women and not among the high-risk groups.
AIDS researcher Mr. Mohammad Khairul Alam said, “HIV/AIDS is a three dimensional disease. It spreads out by three major causes:- such as unconscious or unsafe sexuality, blood exchange(needle) /transfusion for patients, infected mother to child. HIV/AIDS direct by impact on the human body - it paralyze the physical condition, psychological morbidity and destroy social value. It also wipes out three things, such as it affects adults in their productive prime, severely hampers economic growth of person, and hampers his family, at last by rotation it destroys country’s progress. Every one can protect it by avoiding risk behavioral sex (multi-partner sex, unsafe sex practice etc), by avoiding injectable drug (needle sharing is a burning cause of it), by avoiding getting blood without test. Nation wide programme is also needed to take three major strategies:- top to bottom awareness programme of HIV/AIDS, gender discrimination programme to ensure girls and women rights, poverty reduction programme�.
India is experiencing rapid and extensive spread of HIV. This is particularly worrisome since India is home to a population of over 900 million. As a single nation it has more people than the continents of Africa, Australia and Latin America combined. There are an estimated 5.1 million people infected with HIV in India today, and 70,000 to 100,000 cases of AIDS may have already occurred in the country. The Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallyan Foundation identified four major approaches in a groundbreaking study on spread out HIV in Asia. This study undertook by comparing of social-economic norm, family pattern, economic dependency, cause of mounting sex industries, gender discrimination status & global analysis fact. There are four factors that appear to play a crucial role in HIV transmission in Asian countries: Injection/ intravenous drug use (By sharing needle), female sex work (Due to lack of safe sex knowledge), gender discrimination (which indirectly force females commercial or non-commercial sex), Same sex/ homosexually/ Hijara (Due to lack of HIV/AIDS information, because they act invisible in this society). Poverty & illiteracy fueled it proportionally.
HIV prevalence among drug users in India indicates a differential epidemic characterized by unacceptably high levels in certain areas (Manipur with a reported HIV prevalence of 80 per cent), high prevalence rates (above 5 per cent) in many cities of India with a concentrated IDU population (Chennai, Mumbai, New Delhi), and low level prevalence in certain areas like Calcutta (<2% HIV seroprevalence for the past seven years). In some areas of India, the population segments at risk for drug use and high-risk sex overlap. In Manipur, the transmission of the HIV virus from injecting drug users (IDUs) to their spouses has been established, and a study found that 45 per cent of the wives of HIV-infected IDUs were also HIV-positive.
The most rapid and well-documented spread of HIV has occurred in Bombay and the State of Tamil Nadu. In Bombay HIV prevalence has reached the level of 50 percent in sex workers, 36 percent in STD patients and 2.5 percent in women attending antenatal clinics. Certain regions, such as eastern India (Calcutta area) and northern India (New Delhi region), still show a lower prevalence of HIV (1 to 2 percent) among sex workers.
HIV is rapidly spreading to rural areas through migrant workers and truck drivers. Surveys show that 7 to 10 percent of some truck drivers in the country are infected with HIV. An estimated 1 to 2 million cases of tuberculosis occurs in India every year. In Bombay 10 percent of the patients presenting with tuberculosis are HIV-positive. Tuberculosis is the presenting symptom of AIDS in over 60 percent of AIDS cases.
Contrary to traditional belief, sexually transmitted diseases and sex with multiple partners are common in the country, both in urban and rural areas. An estimated 3 to 4 percent of some rural populations have a sexually transmitted disease. Injecting drug use is a problem in Manipur, which is in the North East region, where 55 percent of drug users are HIV-infected and 1 percent of women attending antenatal clinics are infected with HIV.
References: Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallyan Foundation, UNAIDS