Based on the NACO annual report, it can be seen that the primary drivers of the HIV epidemic in India are commercial female sex workers, drug use and unprotected sex between homosexuals and heterosexuals (NACO 2011). From this alone, one immediate assumption that can be made is that one of the primary routes of HIV transmission in India is through sexual activity. However there are other factors that should be taken into consideration in order to understand the full gamut of possible instances where HIV can be transferred. While heterosexual sex accounts for 87.4% of all instances of HIV transmission, other cases include transmission between parent and child during pregnancy which constitutes 5.4% of all cases, homosexual/bisexual sex which comprises 1.3%, drug use which is 1.6%, blood donation (i.e. through transfusions) 1% and other unknown factors which constitute the remaining 3.3% of HIV transmission rates (NACO 2011). When taking all these factors into consideration, the best possible way of reducing the number of cases per year of HIV in India is simply to convince people to use condoms when they have sex (United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS 2013). Should condom use become prevalent, it is likely that 88.7% of all cases of HIV transmission in India could be reduced by 50% or more.
Prevalence among Different Risk Groups
There are currently four “at risk” groups within India that represent the majority of individuals who either have HIV or will most likely get it as a result of their activities. The first risk group is the commercial female sex workers that have unprotected sex with their male clients (United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS 2013). Due to the lack of condom use within India’s sex workers, with a current population of 1,263,000 (i.e. the number of female sex workers, and a prevalence rate of 9.19% for high risk groups), nearly 113,670 female sex workers possibly have HIV (NACO 2011). Other risk group includes 350,000 identified members of India’s male homosexual population that potentially has 32,165 infected individuals due to lack of condom use. The last risk segment constitutes India’s injecting drug users, with a current estimated population of 186,000. This population has the potential to have 17,093 individuals infected with HIV as a result of sharing needles that are laced with HIV infected blood (NACO 2011).
Prevalence among Pregnant Women
Based on an examination of the NACO report, it was noted that nearly 12,428 pregnant women in India were tested positive for HIV (NACO 2011). Considering the data mentioned earlier where one of the transmission rates for HIV was between parent and child (5.4%), the sheer amount of identified cases is not surprising.
Conclusion
Through the data that has been provided in this paper it can be seen that India has a long way to go in terms of being able to successfully stamp out its HIV epidemic. While it may be true that considerable efforts are being made in helping to address the issue, the fact remains that so long as early education involving safe sex practices and HIV awareness are not implemented, it is likely that the problem will remain for many generations as the number of cases continues to increase due to ignorance and lack of sufficient political will to go against conservative cultural norms.
Reference List
NACO 2011,Annual AIDS report 2010-2011, Web.
United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS 2013, UNAIDS report on the global AIDS epidemic 2013.