India is facing a rise in the number of people living with HIV/AIDS. The majorities of new cases of HIV/AIDS victims are women having sex with one partner or husband. In many of these situations, their partners and/or husbands are having sex with prostitutes infected with the AIDS virus. The most vulnerable population of women is those who have minimal education living in poverty. Frequently these women have not heard of HIV, and if they are aware of this virus they lack the knowledge about the route of transmission. The purpose of this article is to review the HIV/AIDS epidemic among people living in poverty in India and to discuss strategies of how to deal with this growing epidemic.
Bhupesh, M. (1992). India disquiet about AIDS control. Lancet, 340 (8834/8835), 1533-1534.
2.
Burbano, X., Miguez-Burbano, M.J., McCollister, K., Zhang, G., Rodriguez, A., Ruiz, P., et al. (2002). Impact of a selenium chemoprevention clinical trial on hospital admissions of HIV-infected participants. HIV ClinicalTrials, 3, 483-491.
3.
Chatterjee, P. (2003). Spreading the word about HIV/AIDS in India. Lancet, 361(9368), 1526-1527.
4.
Choudhury, U. (2003). UN warns India is sitting on AIDS bomb as 4.58 million already infected. Agence France Presse. Retrieved March 15, 2007, from http://www.aegis.com/news/afp/2003/AF0307C3.html
5.
Friis, H., Gomo, E., Koestel, P., Ndhlov, P., Nyazema, N., Krarup, H., et al. (2001). HIV and other predictors of serum folate, serum ferritin, and hemoglobin in pregnancy: A cross-sectional study in Zimbabwe . American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 73, 1058-1065.
6.
Human Rights News. (2002, November 13). AIDS in India: Money won't solve crisis: Rising violence against AIDS-affected people. Retrieved March 10, 2007, from http://www.journallismnet.com/beats/humanrights.htm
7.
Kaiser Network. (2003, July 25). India must act to prevent tens of millions of HIV cases: UNAIDS director says: 458 M Indians already HIV-positive. Daily HIV/AIDS Report .
8.
Kupka, R., & Fawzi, W.W. (2002). Zinc nutrition and HIV infection. Nutrition Review, 60, 69-79.
9.
Lancaster, J. (2003). AIDS begins to widen its reach in India: Disease spreading beyond high-risk groups to general population. Washington Post Foreign Service. Retrieved March 10, 2007 , from http://www.tau.ac.il/jcss/wpost210806.html
10.
Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit. (2002, December). Mandatory premarital testing. Retrieved from http://www.lawyerscollective.org/^hiv/^Publications/newsletter.asp
11.
Malavade, J.A.B., Shah, S.R., Shah, J.J., & Shah, R.M. (2002). Ethical and legal issues in HIV/AIDS counseling and testing (ThPeE7902). Abstract presented at the XIV International AIDS Conference, Barcelona, Spain. Retrieved March 13, 2006, from http://gateway.nlm.nih.gov/robot_pages/MeetingAbstracts/102250984.html
12.
Mocchegiani, E., & Muzzioli, M. (2000). Therapeutic application of zinc in human immunodeficiency virus against opportunistic infections. Journal of Nutrition , 130, 1424S-1431S.
13.
Muller, F., Svardal, A.M., Norday, I., Berge, R.K., Aukrust, P., & Froland, S.S. (2000). Virological and immunological effects of antioxidant treatment in patients with HIV infection. European Journal of Clinical Investigation, 30, 905-914.
14.
National AIDS Control Organization. (2003a). National AIDS Control Program Phase 1 (1992-1999). Retrieved March 15, 2007, from http://www.naco.nic.in/nacp/phase1.htm
15.
National AIDS Control Organization. (2003b). Voluntary testing and counseling center guidelines. Retrieved March 15, 2007, from http://www.naco.nic.in/nacp/program/prog9.htm
16.
National AIDS Control Organization. (2004). Annual report 2002-2004. Available at http://www.nacoonline.org/about_annualreport.htm
17.
National AIDS Control Organization. (2005, February). NACO News, 2. Available at http://www.nacoonline.org/naconewltrfeb.pdf
18.
National AIDS Control Organization. (2006). UAGASS India report: Progress report on the declaration of commitment on HIV/AIDS . New Delhi, India: Author.
19.
National Intelligence Council. (2002, September). The next wave of HIV/AIDS: Nigeria, Ethiopia, Russia, India and China. Available at http://img.thebody.com/whatis/pdfs/aids_wave.pdf
20.
Perry, A. (2005). When silence kills. Time Asia . Retrieved March 15, 2007, from http://www.time.com/time/asia/covers/501050606/story.html
21.
Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat. (2003). World population prospects: The 2002 revision highlights. New York: United Nations.
22.
Ramasundaram, S. (2002). Can India avoid being devastated by HIV?British Medical Journal, 324(7331), 182-183.
23.
Semba, R.D., & Tang, A.M. (1999). Micronutrients and the pathogenesis of human immunodeficiency virus infection. British Journal of Nutrition, 81, 181-189.
24.
Solomon, S., & Ganesh, A.K. (2002). HIV in India. International AIDS Society-USA, 10(3), 16-54.
25.
Unaids. (2001). India: HIV and AIDS-related discrimination, stigmatization and denial. Retrieved March 15, 2007, from http://data.unaids.org/Publications/IRC-pub02/JC587-India_en.pdf
26.
Unaids. (2006). Report on the global AIDS epidemic 2006. Retrieved March 15, 2007, from http://www.unaids.org/en/HIV_data/2006GlobalReport/default.asp
27.
United Nations Public Administration Network. ( 2003). National AIDS prevention and control policy (India). Retrieved March 15, 2007, from http://www.unpan.org
