FOR years, a regular shave at Sriniwasan’s Seven Hill Barber Shop in old Guntur area in Andhra Pradesh cost Rs 7. Then a year ago he hiked his rates to Rs 12. The extra fiver is the cost of being careful. It’s for the Ganesh disposable barb (ustra) that customers want Srinu to use.‘‘People are scared that using the same barb might give them AIDS,’’ says the 25-year-old who is careful not to cut himself while giving others a shave.The fear is not misplaced. Guntur is one of the districts with highest HIV prevalence in Andhra Pradesh, that in turn has the highest prevalence of HIV —over 2 per cent according to the National AIDS Control Organisation. According to figures released by the Andhra Pradesh State AIDS Control Society (AP SACS) for 2005, Guntur has an estimated prevalence of about 3 per cent in general population—Khammam leads the table with 3.5 per cent followed by West Godavari at 3.25 percent. Guntur’s figures, in fact, have dipped from 2003 when it recorded 5.1 per cent.District profilesSO what makes Guntur so vulnerable? Officials say it’s the district’s socio-economic profile. ‘‘It’s a male dominated society where women have always been exploited. The fourth largest city in Andhra Pradesh, Guntur has a population of over six lakh,’’ says an official.Guntur is also a traditional hub for commercial sex, especially in pockets such as Chilakaluripeta and Mangalagiri. This along with the lengthy National Highway (NH-5), high percentage of rural-urban migration, and unsafe sex practices, has translated into high HIV figures.The story is being played out in other districts as well. In fact, the number of HIV positive people in the state is rising. The 2005 figures show that about 13 districts in Andhra Pradesh have more than 2 per cent prevalence of the disease in pregnant mothers, nine districts have between 1 to 2 per cent and only one district has below 1 per cent. And the figures are not conclusive. ‘‘Women as young as 25 go for sterilisation and then not all deliveries are in government hospitals. We don’t know what is happening in other age groups and in other hospitals,’’ says K. Damayanti, Project Director, APSACS.State of denialNEIGHBOURING Tamil Nadu’s story read as grim a couple of years ago but it finally turned the corner—the per cent of people living with HIV/AIDS has dropped to 0.5 per cent in the state.The problem in Andhra, say experts, is that it has been living in denial. ‘‘Tamil Nadu started intervention as early as 1992. We have been a decade late. Our interventions started in 2001. In 1999 the state had 2.6 per cent prevalence, so turning the epidemic around became difficult,’’ says Damayanti.The peculiar problem the state’s facing is in changing attitudes towards multipartner sex. ‘‘In Andhra, the problem is not lack of awareness. It is that everybody knows the causes but they all think it can’t happen to them,’’ says Damayanti.The position of women in the state has been another stumbling block. ‘Traditionally women have a very low status in the social hierarchy. Men have multiple partners and exploitation of women is rampant in the state,’’ said M. Caleb, Project officer Charca. ‘‘The challenge,’’ he adds, ‘‘is in making the men recognise the danger’’ . A survey recently reported that condom use in Andhra is very limited—it’s just 25 per cent with non-regular partners. ‘‘The problem again is casual sex. People think that condom is important only in paid sex,’’ he says.There, however, has been some change following the AIDS Awareness and Sustained Holistic Action project (AASHA) in the state last summer. Launched for a month from July 1 to July 31, 2005, under this awareness campaign every evening for about one week, gram sabhas in every mandal met to discuss HIV This year’s campaign will begin this month and will cover 30,000 villages.Self-help is best helpHELPING the government are the state’s HIV positive people. It won’t be an exaggeration to say it all started with one man: A. Ramesh Babu. A youth Congress leader in Guntur district, Babu was denied a ticket for corporation elections in 2001 after his HIV positive status became known. It was while he was sinking in despair that he read about the suicide of an HIV positive person. Ironically, this case of extreme despair pulled Babu out of his own. Placing an ad in the largest selling Telugu newspaper, he declared his positive status and urged others like him to flock together and fight back.It was in November 2003, that he floated the ‘Network for Positive People’ with a hundred others. Today the network in Guntur has about 1,500 active members and is in close contact with 2,500 others. Babu is also president of the Andhra Pradesh ‘Network for Positive People’ that has about 16 district level networks and about 5 sub-district ones. The networks help people get treatment and even engages lawyers to help them fight their legal battles.This little initiative is now growing. In Eluru, Shiva Krishna, president of West Godawari Network for Positive People, is a happy man. With about 12,000 registered members, the group’s hold is spreading. ‘‘I am like any normal human being and I’ll live long,’’ he says. There are echoes in many corners of Andhra Pradesh.
