In Andhra Pradesh, which ranks second in the prevalence of AIDS, the younger generation is particularly affected. "The worst hit are those in the 15 to 24 age group as they account for 45 per cent of all HIV/AIDS victims in the state, " says Andhra Pradesh State AIDS Control Society Director K. Damayanthi. "Sexual promiscuity is a major reason for the spread of HIV/AIDS with children having their first sexual encounter as early as 12 years." Moreover, the average age of marriage among girls continued to be 15 years and four months, an improvement of just a month during the last decade. Condom distribution too stood at 0.7 per cent during the decade and its usage in the sexually active age group is only 20 per cent while the national average is 32 per cent.

"The contributory factors for the high prevalence of AIDS in Andhra Pradesh is the easy access to sex workers on the national highways passing through the state, increase in sex trafficking with the trend shifting to short-term contracts, more men opting for multiple sex partners and the general reservoir of sexually transmitted diseases," says Damayanthi.

Consequently, a massive education programme aimed at creating awareness about human biology and the threat posed by HIV/AIDS will be launched in all the 11, 464 government and private high schools in the state from December. "Education and AIDS are inseparable but it calls for sensitive handling if it is not to be misinterpreted," says Damayanthi. "So, the focus of the school programme will be only on A and B-abstinence and behaviour-leaving out C-condom-in the first phase."

In other damage-reduction initiatives, Andhra Pradesh is to enact a law making pre-marital HIV tests mandatory if there is a consensus, and HIV-testing facilities will be extended to the 115 community health centres by next year. Global experience is that such a law may l than help control the spread of AIDS. The Government is to examine the feasability of conducting HIV tests on truck drivers who came for renewal of their driving licence. And distribution of condoms is to be streamlined by making them available at liquor shops, petrol bunks, fair price shops and even through women's self\-help groups.

" There is a need to create more care and support facilities and provide anti-retroviral therapy to children," says Karl Sequeria, executive trusteee of the Freedom Foundation, Hyderabad, a NGO that is focused on providing palliative care, long-term care and prevention of mother-to-child transmission. As many as 20 of its 52 patients are children.