With an estimated 2.4 million individuals living with HIV/AIDS, India ranks third, next to South.Africa and Nigeria, in number of HIV cases. The HIV epidemic in India is concentrated with a high prevalence among most at-risk populations including female sex workers, injecting drug users, men who have sex with men, and male-to-female transgender people.
Children under 15 years of age account for 4.4% of all infections, and 39% percent of all HIV.infections are estimated to be among women (0.93 million women, 43,000 pregnant women). Four high-burden states of South India- Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamilnadu account for 57% of HIV infections in India, while West Bengal, Gujarat, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh together account for 22% of infections. Moreover, Punjab, Odisha, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh account for 12% of HIV infections.Stemming an epidemic of this magnitude requires collaborative work among all stakeholders involved, including government, private, and civil society sectors, strong institutional capacities to carry out work, and political commitment at the highest levels both for prevention and treatment.
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