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Women more susceptible to HIV infection

Aarti Dhar

NEW DELHI: Women account for 40 per cent of all HIV/AIDS infections in the country. According to National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) figures, 49 per cent of the people living with the disease in India are women. In absolute terms, HIV prevalence among women is 2.002 million and the number is expected to rise further due to trafficking of women in South Asia.

Studies have shown that HIV is transmitted mainly through unprotected heterosexual sex. A significant proportion of new infections occurred in married women, mostly transmitted by their husbands who frequented sex workers. There has been an alarming rise in infection among young women and girls in the age group 15-24 (as high as 75 per cent).

Women are biologically more susceptible to HIV infection than men from any single act of unprotected sex with an infected partner. In fact, male-to-female transmission of the virus is 2 to 4 times higher than female-to-male transmission among couples engaging in unprotected sex.

Keeping these factors in mind, about 4,000 women and men, including a band of young musicians from Aizawl, will congregate in the capital on March 7 on the eve of International Women's Day to raise awareness against the scourge.

The highlight will be live performances by bands created by peer educators of CHARCA — Co-ordinated HIV/AIDS Response through Capacity-Building and Awareness. The organisation has successfully used music to wean off youth from drug use and instil in them confidence and hope. CHARCA is a joint United Nations project in India on reducing women's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS and it runs six projects at Kanpur, Udaipur, Bellary, Aizawl, Kishanganj and Guntur.

Dispel misconceptions

Supported by UNAIDS and UNIFEM in partnership with the Ministry of Women and Child Development and NACO, this event will be the forerunner of a campaign across the six districts. "With 96 per cent women in Aizawl and 93 per cent women in Kanpur harbouring misconceptions on the spread of HIV/AIDS, the need of the hour is to reach out to young women living in extremely difficult and marginal circumstances,'' Denis Broun, country co-ordinator of UNAIDS, said here on Friday.

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