HIV/AIDS in India

[johnd]

This according to Study done on India's Situation.

HIV/AIDS in India

India is experiencing rapid and extensive spread of HIV. This is particularly worrisome since
India is home to a population of over 900 million. As a single nation it has more people than the
continents of Africa, Australia and Latin America combined.
There are an estimated 2 to 5 million people infected with HIV in India today, and 50,000 to
100,000 cases of AIDS may have already occurred in the country.
This epidemic is fueled by both married and unmarried men visiting sex workers.
The most rapid and well-documented spread of HIV has occurred in Bombay and the State of
Tamil Nadu. In Bombay HIV prevalence has reached the level of 50 percent in sex workers, 36
percent in STD patients and 2.5 percent in women attending antenatal clinics.
Certain regions, such as eastern India (Calcutta area) and northern India (New Delhi region),
still show a lower prevalence of HIV (1 to 2 percent) among sex workers.
Contrary to traditional belief, sexually transmitted diseases and sex with multiple partners are
common in the country, both in urban and rural areas. An estimated 3 to 4 percent of some rural
populations have a sexually transmitted disease.
Injecting drug use is a problem in Manipur, which is in the North East region, where 55 percent
of drug users are HIV-infected and 1 percent of women attending antenatal clinics are infected
with HIV.
HIV is rapidly spreading to rural areas through migrant workers and truck drivers. Surveys
show that 5 to 10 percent of some truck drivers in the country are infected with HIV.
An estimated 1 to 2 million cases of tuberculosis occur in India every year. In Bombay 10
percent of the patients presenting with tuberculosis are HIV-positive. Tuberculosis is the
presenting symptom of AIDS in over 60 percent of AIDS cases.
A major international and governmental effort is necessary to respond effectively to this severe
epidemic.

[BombayKid]

Yes it is becoming a major problem in India.....but I think a lot of NGO's are doing some pretty good work trying to stop the spread of AIDS.....lets hope it works.

[Mr Xtreme]

Advice to Indians: Just say No.

[NYAhmadiX]

India is well equipped in dealing with such epidemics, whereas it took Pakistan 20 years even to admit that there is a drug problem in the country (let alone establishing treatment centers). Only God knows what would Pakistanis do if a disease such as AIDS (which does not discriminate) ever to become an epidemic there. The best way to deal with any situation is to face it head on.

[BombayKid]

Although it is serious...I would say that it is still controllable. 1,00,000 cases in a population of 900 million is still OK (but it could skyrocket).
I wouldn't say India is as well equipped as say the US to deal with AIDS, but I would say that lots of organizations are being very pro-active and there's definitely awareness among the general public.

Advice for Pakistan : First start admitting that it's a big problem in your country. Your first Cancer hospital was built due to the tiring efforts of Imran Khan as late as the 80's. For a nation which boasts of enjoying a better living standard than India (which is true), your citizens had to wait for a hell of a long time before they got a Cancer hospital.

[KK]

there are cancer treatment facilities various places in Pakistan. Only 2 things make Shaukat K. Hospital special:

1) Its a charity hospital where most of the expenses are borne by hospital
2) The hospital has the name of Imran Khan attached to it.

[Achtung]

NY Ahmadi: "...whereas it took Pakistan 20 years even to admit that there is a drug problem in the country (let alone establishing treatment centers)."

Bombaykid wrote: "Advice for Pakistan : First start admitting that it's a big problem in your country."

Pakistan television has been running advertisements daily regarding the threats of AIDS. They were especially in full force during the World Cup. Pakistan on some level has admitted that there is a "problem". How large that problem is though is uncertain. According to UNAIDS, the numbers of cases of AIDs and HIV +'s in Pakistan is quite low, but increasing. At any rate any sort of preventive medicine is a good idea. Saying all that, Muslim countries in general have the most difficult time developing and implementing "family planning" clinics. I'd imagine administering centers dealing with cases of AIDS or service centers providing information and devices to prevent the spread of AIDS would be difficult almost anywhere in the Muslim world, including Pakistan.

NY Ahmadi wrote: "a disease such as AIDS
(which does not discriminate)..."

Just out of curiosity, why do you think the gay and black community in the US has the largest ratio of AIDS and HIV + cases? I'm not saying it discriminates either, I'm just wondering what your thoughts are.

Achtung

See the following link for information on AIDS in specific countries, including Pakistan and India (I haven't checked it out lately, since I seem to have lost my Adobe Acrobat - which is the program you need to view the documents):
http://www.unaids.org/unaids/documen...ets/index.html

[NYAhmadiX]

Achtung writes: “Just out of curiosity, why do you think the gay and black community in the US has the largest ratio of AIDS and HIV + cases? I'm not saying it discriminates either, I'm just wondering what your thoughts are.”


My thought is very simple. AIDS is a virus that is transmitted into blood stream through either unprotected sex or through sharing needles. The virus is ignorant as to who the recipient is, gay, straight, black, or white. The Sub-Saharan African nations affected most (epidemic is only a mild way to describe it in some instances; where over 50% of the population under 30 year of age is infected). Calling it a gay disease is an ignorant (not to say that you are calling it) thought. In fact, the gay community has done more to bring the levels of infection down in their community. More recent studies suggest that heterosexual teenagers are at higher risk than any other group.

In terms of Pakistani media and AIDS awareness, you are naive. Showing two aids on TV is not mass educating the public. Over half the country does not have safe drinking water, and you think they own TV sets. The best place to spread the word is in Mosques, and schools, which will take 20 years even to mention the term “sexually transmitted disease”. In terms of drug rehab and treatment centers, the problem first surfaced in the late 70’s, and it was not until only a few years ago that Pakistanis even acknowledged that there was a problem.

Rates of HIV being higher in minority communities in the US have more to do with socio-econmic conditions than to do with the color of their skin!

[Achtung]

I took a look at Pakistan's numbers,

1) Estimated number of adults and children living with HIV/AIDS, end of 1997:

64,000 adults and children
62,000 adults (ages 15-49)
12,000 women (ages 15-49)
1800 children (ages 0-15)

*These estimates include all people with HIV infection, whether or not they have developed
symptoms of AIDS, alive at the end of 1997

2) Estimated number of AIDS cases:

17,000 adults and children

3) Estimated number of deaths due to AIDS:

15,000 cumulative deaths
4500 deaths in 1997

4)Estimated Number of Orphans:

a) Estimated number of children who have lost their mother or both parents to AIDS (while they were under age 15) since the beginning of the epidemic:

5000 cumulative orphans

b) Estimated number of children who have lost their mother or both parents to AIDS and who
were alive and under age 15 at the end of 1997:

4500 Current Living orphans

All numbers from the website linked in the above post.

NY Ahmadi, I agree with everything you said, I was just trying to get under your skin. By showing ads on television, the government has admitted that there is a threat - the implication you seemed to be making was that there was no acknowledgement - showing ads during the World Cup - the most watched event of the last few years in Pakistan shows that they've begun something (ie, its a start). Targetting the mosques would be an excellent way (probably an even better way) of getting the message across to men - but you'd have to think of some innovative way of making women aware.

Achtung

[This message has been edited by Achtung (edited September 03, 1999).]