Globally there are 40 million people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/ acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) (Marfatia, Sharma and Modi, 2007)
According to the latest estimates based on National Family Health Survey (NFHS), released by National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), the National adult HIV prevalence in India is approximately 0.36% which corresponds to an estimated 2 to 3.1 million people living with HIV in the country (Marfatia, Sharma and Modi, 2007). The HIV/AIDS epidemic is increasingly affecting women and young girls, especially where heterosexual sex is the main mode of transmission. Out of the estimated adults living with HIV, 38.4% were females.
However, in Tamil Nadu and other southern states with high HIV burdens, where effective interventions have been in place for several years, HIV prevalence has begun to decline or stabilize.
India’s first cases of HIV were diagnosed among sex workers in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Most of the initial cases had occurred through heterosexual sex; but at the end of the 1980s, a rapid spread of HIV was observed among injecting drug users in Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland.
The vast majority of infections occur among women through heterosexual sex, and most of those who become infected would not fall into the category of high-risk groups.
Infections occur primarily through unprotected sex and transmission of the disease from mother to unborn child. It has been estimated that out of 27 million pregnancies in India, nearly 189,000 occur in HIV-positive mothers, leading to an estimated cohort of 56,700 infected babies A good percentage of transmissions occur through people in marginalized groups including female sex workers, transgender groups and gay men.
The HIV/AIDS situation in India is a global problem. In today’s world what happens in a country halfway around the world can have consequences for people all over the world. According to a CIA assessment quoted by CBS News, “if patients don’t take their AIDS medications every day, strains of the virus could evolve which are resistant to the drugs..”
Companies from around the world have business relationships with India, which has one of the world’s largest software industries. Many companies have taken advantage of the time difference between India and the United States and should the number of HIV/AIDS cases rise the CIA warns that such a situation “will have significant economic… implications.”
The result would not only be disastrous for India’s economy but detrimental to their trading partners and to the global businesses that have invested in India.
India is not only the largest democracy in the world, but it is a nuclear power as well. India is an ally to many countries in their war against terrorism. If the AIDS situation in India gets out of control the result could be “diminished military preparedness” and a weakened state, negatively affecting the political stance of its allies including the United States. An explosion in the number of HIV/AIDS cases – which could weaken their economy and their government.
Reference
Marfatia, Y., Archana Sharma, and Megha Modi (2007). Overview of HIV/AIDS in India. (Review Article). Indian Journal of Sexually Transmitted Diseases 28.1: 1.