Let's please talk about sex...

Following on the Khushboo saga, the Prime Minister has spoken out about the need to talk openly about safe sex, to prevent an AIDS epidemic in India. So far no legal action has been threatened against him for defaming members of his community or of the country at large.

But if this gives cause for hope, there are more depressing indicators that things continue to be more of the same with our dynamic and proactive babus at the Ministry of Health. According to NACO's latest figures, there are 5.1 million HIV positive persons in India, which is a decline in the rate of infections from last year. This figure has been slammed by almost every other agency involved in AIDS relief in India, most put the figure at upwards of 6 million infections (see here, here and here), which makes India the country with the largest number of HIV positive persons in the world. The Health Minister himself conceded that data may have been faulty, especially with regard to the Northeast and Bihar, and NACO's analysis reveals another significant problem - that the epidemic is spreading quickly into rural areas.

It is estimated that over 80% of infections arise through unsafe sex, most of this heterosexual. While the patriarchal nature of sexual practices in India may well have something to do with this, what is unescapable is the low rate of awareness about sexual health in India. And the only way we can do anything about this is to talk about AIDS. It's free, it's easy and it saves lives. So please let's talk about it.