Problems of HIV/AIDS infected women in Manipur: Agenda for policy change

Abstract

Manipur has experienced an alarming rise in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected persons and persons with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), which has been the most serious public health problem, and AIDS has become the number one killer of young people. This tiny state is one of the top six states having the highest number of HIV-positive cases in the country. Initially, it was mainly spread through injecting drug users but now the epidemic is not only confined to the injecting drug users and has spread to their sexual partners, to their children, and to others as well. The majority of the infected people belong to younger and working age groups; it is reported that the HIV sero-prevalence rate among pregnant women has raised alarmingly. The impact of HIV is also more severely felt by the women in the state. In these families, women provide financial support to the family and they find it difficult to earn their livelihood due to the lack of availability of work in the state. In such situations they are forced to work as commercial sex workers. This has also increased the risk of infection among women who were previously considered as being a low-risk group. One should bear in mind that the risk of infection among women means the risk of infection for generations to come. In this backdrop, the present article is an attempt to explore the problems of HIV/AIDS infected women in Manipur.