Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state in the country accounting for 16.4 per
cent of the country’s population. It is also the fourth largest state in geographical
area covering 9% of the country’s geographical area. Uttar Pradesh is a high vulnerable
state with HIV prevalence of 0.18% among the ANC population as per the annual sentinel
surveillance of 2008. The ANC prevalence has remained almost at the same level whereas
HIV prevalence among the High Risk Groups and STI population has shown some decline
yet continues to be high requiring a more focussed approach to check the spread
of the virus while there has been marked prevalence amongst migrants and their families.
Sero-positivity in STD/ANC Sentinel Sites (1998-2008)
[All figures in percentage]
Fig.1 Sero-positivity in STD/ANC Sentinel Sites (1998-2008)
Uttar Pradesh is situated in the Central Part of North India and shares an international
border with Nepal and common boundaries with several other Indian states like Uttarakhand
in the North; Haryana, Delhi and Rajasthan in the West; Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh
in the South and Bihar and Jharkhand in the east. After the bifurcation of the state
in 2000 (into Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh), it is now predominantly in the Indo-Gangetic
Plains.
Because of its population – numbers and distribution – UttarPradesh is politically
one of the most important states of the country, though it is economically among
the lower middle ranking states of the country. When socio-economic indicators are
concerned it is among the poorest. Casteism, feudalism and patriarchy still reign
in the state, and the socio-economic status of socially marginalised and backward
classes, the landless and of women are consequently very poor.