Living Condition of Persons Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA):

The main objective of this paper is to understand the gender disparity among PLWHA. The specific objectives selected for this study are,
1) To study the living condition of selected PLWHA in India.
2) To explore the gender dynamics on PLWHA in India.
3) To analyse the awareness and attitude of the head of the households where these PLWHA are living, so as to identify challenges these PLWHA had to face as men and women.

National Family Health Survey NFHS-3 (DHS-India) which was conducted in 2005-06 is selected for this study. NFHS-3 is the first national survey in India which included HIV testing. HIV/AIDS testing was conducted for 53,332 women and 46,506 men. HIV/AIDS tests were conducted in almost all the states of India, except one state where the local opposition prevented it .

This paper uses the men and women NFHS-3. First, the persons tested positive for HIV were identified and these PLWHA are analysed according to the objectives of the paper using both the male and female NFHS-3 datasets separately. Secondly, the head of the households where these PLWHA were living are selected separately and their awareness and attitude towards HIV/AIDS are analysed so as to explore the situation these PLWHA are living in. The findings of this paper are based on men and women in the age group 15-49.