OVERVIEW
Spreading Awareness
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Sexual transmission is the main route of transmission of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). It accounts for 86% of the HIV infection spread. HIV is contracted by married and unmarried men through sex workers. The other 14% are by other routes such as blood transfusion, mother-to-child transmission and injection drug use Over 35% of young people (ages 15-24 years) in India are at high-risk (UNAIDS India, 2004). Apart from South Africa, India, a country of over a billion people, holds the second largest number of HIV infection in the world (UNAIDS India, 2004). There is an increase in numbers of HIV infection from few thousands in the early 1990s to an estimate of 5.1 million people living with HIV/AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) in the year 2004 (avert.org, 2006). These figures reflect that global action needs to take place to prevent the spread of this virus to the most vulnerable population, the women. Many women who are infected or at risk of becoming infected do not practise high-risk behaviours but are frequently married or in a monogamous relationship. They are vulnerable largely because of the behaviour of others, through their limited autonomy and external factors, including social and economic inequities beyond their control. (UNAIDS India, 2004) Website developed by Mandeep Dhillon & Lorie Hansen. |
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