In India, the face of AIDS is increasingly young

Sex workers, along with former Miss India Nafisa Ali, center, march in recognition of World AIDS day through the streets of the red light district in an old section of New Delhi, India, on Thursday

NEW DELHI, India (Reuters) -- Thousands of Indian street children living on railway platforms and sleeping on roadsides face the danger of contracting HIV through sexual abuse, prostitution and drug use, relief workers say.

The children are either orphans or have run away from home because of bad treatment. They often turn to prostitution to get money and inject drugs to escape a life of daily torment.

Living off street scraps and odd jobs, they are at high risk of HIV/AIDS through sexual abuse, said Dr. Kanak Mittal, who helps street children.

Amarjeet, 12, told Reuters he has seen children abused and raped hundreds of times, especially at Delhi's railway station.

"Some children go along with people who take advantage of them because they need money," he said.

Against the odds, there are groups which are working to stop the abuse.

Delhi-based Salam Balak Trust (Salute the Child Trust) has set up shelters to give education, counselling, food and accommodation.

"Once they arrive (in Delhi), the local dons at the railway stations and bus terminals capture them," said Trust coordinator Ashwini Ranjan. "During the daytime, they force them to pick rags ... and during night they try and physically abuse them."

Education key for children

The Trust also runs a program to teach street children about AIDS and how to avoid it.

Rajesh Shah, 13, told Reuters tearfully he was forced to flee an employer who tried to rape him. "He gave me a place to sleep and promised a decent salary but when I asked for money he refused, saying he would only give it if I had sex with him."

All too often, say aid workers, sex is a matter of survival.

"They may not be able to determine the terms on which that sex takes place. So protecting themselves or knowledge about condoms is very difficult," said UNAIDS adviser Gordon Alexander.

The United Nations says India has at least 3.7 million HIV-infected people. AIDS is spreading from traditionally high-risk groups such as commercial sex workers, drug users and homosexuals to large rural swathes and urban areas.

Although the disease is concentrated in southern India, the western state of Maharashtra and the northeast, other areas are highly vulnerable because of large-scale migration and drug use.

Alexander said easy access to drugs and sharing of syringes put kids at even greater risk of contracting the HIV virus.

"Injecting drugs is one of the most efficient ways in which the virus can be transmitted when needles are exchanged," he said.

Authorities say they are doing all they can to curb the spread of HIV. "We're on the job and we hope this disease should not increase in India," Health Minister C.P. Thakur told Reuters.

But aid agencies say India's efforts to combat the disease are woefully inadequate and predict an explosion of AIDS cases.

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