Hiv Widows in Trichirappalli District
HIV / AIDS INFECTED WIDOWS IN TIRUCHIRAPPALLI DISTRICT, TAMILNADU
The Indian epidemic continues to be concentrated in populations with high risk behavior characterized by unprotected paid sex, sex between men, and injecting drug use with shared injecting equipment. Several high risk groups have high HIV prevalence, and sexual networks are wide and inter-digitizing. According to India’s National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), the bulk of HIV infections in India occur during unprotected heterosexual intercourse. Consequently, women account for a growing proportion of people living with HIV (38per cent in 2005), especially in rural areas. Recent data suggests that some southern states may be experiencing declining or stabilizing HIV prevalence among young women (Web.worldbank.org). Discrimination against widows and HIV/AIDS are significantly adds to the burden of the already inferior status of widows. The young widows, frequently with their young children, face the burden of discrimination on two counts that the loss of their husband and the disease. The Government of India estimates that in 2006 about 2.45 million Indians were living with HIV (1.75 - 3.15 million) with an adult prevalence rate of 0.41 percent. India’s highly heterogeneous epidemic is largely concentrated in six states in the industrialized south and west and in the north-eastern tip. On average, HIV prevalence in those states is 4–5 times higher than in the other Indian states. HIV prevalence is highest in the Mumbai-Karnataka corridor, the Nagpur area of Maharashtra, the Namakkal district of Tamil Nadu, coastal Andhra Pradesh, and parts of Manipur and Nagaland. The first HIV/AIDS case in India was identified in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, in 1986. Twenty years later, in 2006, 2.5 million Indians were HIV positive, according to an estimate by United Nations AIDS (UNAIDS). According to United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIVAIDS (UNGASS), India’s epidemic
The Indian epidemic continues to be concentrated in populations with high risk behavior characterized by unprotected paid sex, sex between men, and injecting drug use with shared injecting equipment. Several high risk groups have high HIV prevalence, and sexual networks are wide and inter-digitizing. According to India’s National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), the bulk of HIV infections in India occur during unprotected heterosexual intercourse. Consequently, women account for a growing proportion of people living with HIV (38per cent in 2005), especially in rural areas. Recent data suggests that some southern states may be experiencing declining or stabilizing HIV prevalence among young women (Web.worldbank.org). Discrimination against widows and HIV/AIDS are significantly adds to the burden of the already inferior status of widows. The young widows, frequently with their young children, face the burden of discrimination on two counts that the loss of their husband and the disease. The Government of India estimates that in 2006 about 2.45 million Indians were living with HIV (1.75 - 3.15 million) with an adult prevalence rate of 0.41 percent. India’s highly heterogeneous epidemic is largely concentrated in six states in the industrialized south and west and in the north-eastern tip. On average, HIV prevalence in those states is 4–5 times higher than in the other Indian states. HIV prevalence is highest in the Mumbai-Karnataka corridor, the Nagpur area of Maharashtra, the Namakkal district of Tamil Nadu, coastal Andhra Pradesh, and parts of Manipur and Nagaland. The first HIV/AIDS case in India was identified in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, in 1986. Twenty years later, in 2006, 2.5 million Indians were HIV positive, according to an estimate by United Nations AIDS (UNAIDS). According to United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIVAIDS (UNGASS), India’s epidemic