AIDS In India

The first case of AIDS was identified in India in 1986. Since then India has come a long way in figuring out how to deal with this silent epidemic. It is not so silent anymore, but nonetheless a little research into this topic and you start realizing how complicated it can get to curb this growing epidemic in India. Imagine trying to teach a poor farmer in south the value of condom every time he has sex with his wife. First you will have to teach him what AIDS is, then you will have teach him how to prevent it using condoms and thirdly you will have to give him motivation to spend his money on condom when he is struggling to find money for two meals a day. I am not saying its impossible to spread awareness, quite the contrary, it is absolutely possible and an utmost necessity. But, in small ways it gives you an idea of the challenge ahead. However, its a challenge that India must face head on. The current statistics suggest that there are about 2.6 million people in India with AIDS. Take that number with a grain of salt as it is impossible to come up with an accurate estimation of disease prevalence in a population of 1.6 billion people. Most newly infected cases are in rural areas and in population age group 15-44. The HIV virus is most commonly spread in India by sex between men and women, a heterosexual relationship. The states with the most cases for AIDS are Tamil Nadu followed by Andhra Pradesh followed by Maharashtra followed by Gujarat followed by Karnataka. Even more stunning is the statistics for HIV prevalence in truck drivers: 70-80% and the most common reason being the use of I.V. drugs in truck drivers is very high. (HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. Being HIV positive doesn't mean you have AIDS but that you will at some point have AIDS). Even though WHO has predicted that some 10 million people in India will have AIDS by 2010, that is highly unlikely. But still, when 2.6 million or 26 lakh people are suffering from AIDS wouldn't you say that number is more than expected: an epidemic by definition. Good news is there are things that are being done at the national and state level which have already shown a slight downturn in the number of new cases. U.S. has given some 100 million dollars last four years to fight AIDS in India. Last year, India was awarded 279 million dollars by world bank to fight AIDS and Indian government spent 73 million dollars worth of its own rupees in 2006 for fighting AIDS which is up 2.5 times from the previous year. Don't forget the 100 million contributed by Bill Gates for AIDS research in India. That's a lot of money, but, unfortunately lot more is going to be needed. There is a lot that needs to be done: setting up more clinics accessible to the the rural areas, start more projects to spread awareness, patients and society-at-large has to be advocated about the social, economic and psychological aftermath that AIDS brings, people have to be educated on the means of spread and methods of prevention and perhaps most importantly educate primary care workers at state levels on how to manage AIDS. All of the above mentioned suggestions are just a start and India has just started to find its feet in the fight against AIDS. Lets hope, this hope doesn't get lost amidst superpower dreams and political ambitions. Its an epidemic of our generation and AIDS is still incurable.