San Francisco Chronicle Begins Five-Part Series Examining AIDS in India

Ahead of the XV International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, Thailand, next week, when "[w]orld attention will focus on the threat AIDS poses to Asia," the San Francisco Chronicle on Sunday began a five-part series on AIDS in India. Experts believe that the "key" to HIV/AIDS trends in Asia lie with India, the most populous nation in the world, according to the Chronicle. Summaries of some of the articles in the series, which ends on Thursday, appear below:

• "South Asia's Smoldering Threat": Although most HIV/AIDS patients in India are men, experts believe this trend will shift to women, who "hold a distinctly second-class status in the cultural hierarchy of India" but who also hold leadership positions, the Chronicle reports. The article examines how women in India could become disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS if the disease takes a course similar to that of Africa (Russell, San Francisco Chronicle, 7/4).

• "The Role of Prostitution in South Asia's Epidemic; Push for Safe Sex in Red-Light Districts": Sex work in Mumbai, India's largest city, poses a "troubling" problem for people involved in HIV/AIDS prevention, the Chronicle reports. India's "red-light districts ... have been engines driving the growth of the epidemic throughout" the country, according to the Chronicle. In 2002, 54% of sex workers in Mumbai tested HIV-positive. The article examines how sex workers are learning to turn down customers who refuse to use condoms (Russell, San Francisco Chronicle, 7/5).
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• "Spreading the Message of Prevention, Outreach Workers Hit the Road to Keep Truckers Protected": Many of India's five million truck drivers are on the road away from their homes for one week to three months at a time, and a typical trucker has three to five sex partners each week, according to a survey by the AIDS Prevention and Control Project, the Chronicle reports. The article profiles efforts to educate truckers and their sex partners about HIV prevention (Russell, San Francisco Chronicle, 7/6).

• "Drugs for a Few: Disease Strikes Five Million—Only the Lucky Get Medicine, Government's Slack Taken up by Tireless Informal Network:" Although there are more people living with HIV in India than in any other country besides South Africa, HIV/AIDS prevention is "underfunded, treatment is spotty" and access to brand-name drugs is a "luxury saved for the wealthy or the lucky," the Chronicle reports. However, India's "best weapon" against AIDS may be its "vast network" of "mom-and-pop" nongovernmental organizations that address the disease, according to the Chronicle.

• "Unanswered Questions: Epidemic Imperils the Future; Nation Could Face Africa-Like Disaster": India, where 0.5% of the population -- or 4.6 million people -- are HIV-positive, spends only about 11 cents per capita on the disease. According to the Chronicle, the Indian government's plan to handle the epidemic was "not an issue" in the country's recent election. In addition, the "epidemiological picture" of AIDS in India is "not clear," compared with countries in Africa, where "sexual networks" and cultural practices related to the disease are well-documented, the Chronicle reports (Russell, San Francisco Chronicle, 7/8).

Chronicle medical writer Sabin Russell traveled to India for five weeks earlier this year as part of a fellowship from the Kaiser Family Foundation (Russell, San Francisco Chronicle, 7/6).

Back to other news for July 6, 2004