There has been a sharp increase in the estimated number of HIV infections, from a few thousand in the early 1990s to around 5.21 million adults living with HIV/AIDS.

As per previous records, India had 5.13 million people infected by the deadly virus in 2004 .out of which over 38% were females and 57% from rural backgrounds. What’s worse, 90% of the infected people do not know that they are carrying the infection.



I think, India has not learnt its lessons yet as there appears to be a halfhearted approach in curbing the spread of AIDS\HIV. We are next only to South Africa with the highest number of AIDS/HIV cases, the figure touching a mammoth five million mark as per statistics in 2003.



India has diverse societal patterns between its different regions, states and metropolitan areas and due to this, I think that even the spread of HIV within country is diverse.



In fact, India’s epidemic is made up of a number of epidemics, and in some places, they occur within the same state. Both tracking the epidemic and implementing effective programmes poses a serious challenge to the authorities and communities in India.



More AIDS awareness, please.



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