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Bad sexual practices, low condom usage, and lack of awareness has earned
Andhra Pradesh
(AP) the dubious distinction of being India’s AIDS capital with over 20% the country’s 5.1 million.
An increasing trend in AP is the spread of this infection among the non-high risk groups. Traditional wisdom is that truck drivers and sex workers have the highest AIDS infection rate in India. However, sex with non-regular partners (NRP) being the highest in AP, 19% among married men and 7% among married women compared to national average of 12% among married men and 2% among married women, is causing the infection to spread rapidly.
In some districts, the sex with NRP rate is even higher. In Guntur, the rate is 38% of married men and 10% of married women and most people do not use condoms.
The average median age for first sexual encounter in AP is 16% and experts feel that this is another cause for the high prevalence rate.
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