India is a country of 1.1 billion people, where 5.7 million are living with HIV/Aids. But unfortunately, more than 40% of women in the nation have not heard about AIDS.
According to a research conducted by the National Family Health Survey, only 57% of women have heard about the fatal disease.
Activists said that poor awareness among women especially in the rural region is fueling the epidemic.
In the past few years, there has been a growing ‘feminization’ of the epidemic in India with nearly 40% of all those infected now being women, including housewives.
One reason for low awareness is that the government has focused prevention efforts on high-risk groups like prostitutes and intravenous drug users, rather than on the general population.
Many rural women have been infected by their husbands who work in the cities and visit prostitutes. Stigma stops infected husbands from telling their wives they are HIV-positive.
Thus, the government needs to spend more training and enough health workers are required to disseminate AIDS education among rural women at grass root levels.
