A Study on the Status of High Risk Group for HIV in Coimbatore

Abstract

India, with a population of more than one billion, has not been spared from the HIV epidemic. According to the 2005 UNAIDS estimate (UNAIDS 2005), India had 5.7 million people living with HIV. However, with support from UNAIDS and the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2006, a revised estimate from the National AIDS Control Organization estimated that the HIV prevalence in the country could actually be lower, at 2.5 million infected people. Sexual transmission accounts for more than 85% of all HIV infections in India. One critical consideration for most sexually transmitted HIV epidemics is the use of condoms during sex. In Thailand and Cambodia, significant success has been achieved in lowering the spread and prevalence of HIV, as well as other bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs), through promotion of 100% condom use for commercial sex (WHO 2000). Researchers have found that regular and consistent use of condoms may reduce the transmission of HIV infections by 87–95%. NACO in India has also emphasized condom use to reduce the risk of HIV transmission at the population level. Condom use among sexually active individuals in India, however, remains very low in almost all groups of sexually active people, including married men, unmarried men, University students, urban slum dwellers, rural men, truck drivers , etc., and has been documented even in high-risk groups such as commercial sex workers, non-regular sex partners and men having sex with men. Thus, despite the currently estimated low HIV prevalence, the opportunity for developing a widespread epidemic persists.