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HIV/AIDS spread among women

Where do we stand? In a recent report in 2006, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) latest figures estimated that approximately 39.5 million people are living with HIV globally [1]. India’s National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) reported the estimated number infected as 2.5 million [1]. Approximately 85% of HIV transmission in India is through sexual contact [2]. According to the NACO, HIV/AIDS is no longer confined to urban areas but is spreading rapidly into the rural population. The prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Asian countries is not only restricted to high-risk behavior groups, but has also started spreading into the general population. Women account for nearly half of HIV infections worldwide, and young women and girls are those most often infected (TABLE 1). The rate of infection in women is rising in almost every region. Young women are often detected as HIV infected during their first pregnancy, the majority of them within their first 2 years of marriage [3]. Owing to social and family pressures, girls agree to early marriages because delayed wedding among girls carries social stigma [3]. Marriage is treated as a sacred social tie in India, but protecting married women’s sexual health from infection is a major problem. Girls are married in their teens as a povertyreduction strategy because people think that higher education for a woman will make it more difficult and costly to identify a life partner. Quite apart from this, many women and girls lack the social and economic power to control many aspects of their lives, particularly sexual matters, owing to gender norms and inequalities. As a result, women face difficult situations in terms of sex negotiation and other issues related to sexual health with their partners. In most sections of Indian society, it is not considered socially appropriate for female members to discuss the use of condoms and other sexual matters with their partners [2,4]. Although conditions are changing, it will take a long time for people to become confident in discussing sexual health-related issues.