Public Health
Facts & Stats
Hot Spots- High HIV prevalence
There are a number of states where the HIV prevalence in antenatal women is 1% or more, and these are considered to be high prevalence states. The prevalence rates are from data collected during screening of women attending antenatal clinics (ANC), meaning that these prevalence rates are only relevant to sexually active women. However, these rates can provide a reasonable estimate of HIV prevalence within the general population in each state.
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh has one of the fastest increasing HIV/AIDS prevalence rates in India. In 2002 the ANC prevalence rate was 1.25% and NACO estimated that more than 400,000 people were living with HIV in Andhra Pradesh, the second highest number after Maharashtra state. This is 10% of the total HIV cases in India and ninety percent of the infections in the state occur through sexual transmission.15 Andhra Pradesh is a Hindu state in the southeast of the country with a total population of 75.7 million.
Goa
Goa is in the southwest of India and is best known as a tourist destination. and tourism is so prominent that the number of tourists almost equals the population of the state which is 1.34 million. HIV infections have increased noticeably in Goa in the past couple of years. The ANC prevalence rate increased from 0.5% in 2001 to 1.38% in 2002.
Karnataka
In Karnataka the mean prevalence among ANCs was 1.13 in 2001 and 1.75 percent in 2002. In 2001 there were four districts with an ANC prevalence of 2 percent or more, and these are located in the southern part of the state, in and around Bangalore, on the border with Tamil Nadu, or in northern Karnataka's "devadasi belt." Devadasi women are a group of women, who historically, have been dedicated to the service of gods. These days, this has evolved into sanctioned prostitution- as a result many women from this part of the country are supplied to the sex trade in big cities such as Mumbai.16 Karnataka has a population of 52.7 million and is a diverse state in the southwest of India.
Maharashtra & Mumbai
Mumbai (Bombay) is the capital city of Maharashtra state and is the second most populated city in India with a population of 16.4 million people. Maharashtra is a very large state of three hundred thousand square kilometers and it has a total population of 96.8 million. The 2002 ANC prevalence rate for the state of Maharashtra was 1.25% and the prevalence for the city of Mumbai 0.75%.
Manipur
Manipur, a small state of 2.4 million people in the north east of India, has the highest concentration of HIV/AIDS infection in India. The geographical nearness of Manipur to Burma and therefore to the Golden Triangle drug trail, has made it a major transit route for drug smuggling, with drugs easily available. However, the transmission route of HIV/AIDS in the state is no longer confined to injecting drug users. It has spread further to the female sexual partners of IDUs and their children.17 The ANC prevalence in Manipur in 2002 was 1.12% and among injecting drug users at three surveillance sites the HIV prevalence was an extremely high 39.06%.
Mizoram
In 1998, in the small north eastern state of Mizoram which has a population of less than a million, the epidemic took off quickly among male injecting drug users; with some drug clinics registering HIV rates of more than 70 percent among their patients.18 In 2002, the ANC prevalence was 1.50%.
Nagaland
Another small north eastern state, with a population of two million, and where injecting drug use has again been the driving force behind the HIV epidemic. In 2002, the ANC prevalence was 1.25% and the HIV prevalence among injecting drug users was 10.28%.
Tamil Nadu
When surveillance systems in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, home to some 60 million people, showed that HIV infection rates among pregnant women were rising, tripling to 1.25% between 1995 and 1997, the State Government acted decisively. It set up an AIDS society, which worked closely with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other partners to develop an active AIDS prevention campaign. This included hiring a leading international advertising agency to promote condom use for risky sex in a humorous way, without offending the many people who do not engage in risky behavior. The campaign also attacked the ignorance and stigma associated with HIV infection.
The ANC prevalence in Tamil Nadu was 0.88% in 2002, although an infection rate of 33.8 per cent was recorded at the one surveillance site for injecting drug users. By September 2003 Tamil Nadu had reported 24,667 cases of AIDS, the highest number reported to NACO by any state.