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Whilst the international community's focus has been on the region most devastated by HIV/ AIDS, namely sub-Saharan Africa, India now appears on the brink of a significant AIDS epidemic. In thinking about the implications of HIV/AIDS, considerable attention was initially drawn to its clinical aspects. More recently, other dimensions of HIV, including economic, have been explored. The primary objective of this review is to elaborate on the major elements of the national and international economic research to data on HIV/AIDS, and to infer lessons from it, for India. It also examines the evidence on the aggregate and household-level economic impacts of HIV, the economic roots that drive its transmission and the methods economists use to assess the efficacy of alternative interventions to address HIV and AIDS. Available evidence suggests that whereas aggregate impacts may be limited, the adverse household-level economic implications of AIDS may be serious; public resources that are available for health are also likely to be put under strain. Paucity of economic research on HIV and AIDS relating to India is highlighted.
When acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) was first recognized in early 1981, few would have predicted that it would escalate into a modernday plague, with over 40 million individuals infected worldwide. Indeed, AIDS is an exceptional infectious disease, posing challenges in terms of immediate needs and long-term development. In 2003, almost five million people were newly infected with HIV, the highest annual incidence rate since the beginning of the epidemic. In the same year, almost three million individuals died of AIDS and over 20 million have died since the first cases of AIDS were identified in the early 1980s1.
Whilst the international community's focus has been on the region most devastated by HIV/AIDS, namely sub-Saharan Africa, India now appears on the brink of a significant epidemic. HIV has been detected in almost all of India's states and union territories. In seven Indian states, the prevalence of HIV in women attending antenatal clinics exceeds 1 per cent, categorizing the epidemic as generalized. With an estimated 5.1 million individuals living with HIV in 2003, approximately 0.9 per cent of Indian adults are HIV positive, and in terms of absolute numbers, HIV prevalence in India corresponds to the second highest population worldwide2.
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