In India out of the identified 55,764 AIDS cases

In India out of the identified 55,764 AIDS cases 2112 are children. India has the largest number of AIDS orphans and it number is expected to become double in next five years.

There are around 239 million adolescent in India which accounts for 22.8 percent of population as per last Census Report of 2001.The World Health Organisation defines Adolescents as young people aged 10-19 .Adolescents are no longer children ,but not yet adults .They are considered to be most vulnerable group as far as Sexually Transmitted infections (STIs ) is concerned. Rita Panicker, Director of NGO Butterfly informs that around 300,000 children in India are engaged in commercial sex.

There are conflicting reports about HIV/AIDS in India. But the experts largely agree that India has amongst the largest number of HIV infected people in the world, second only to South Africa. According to National AIDS control Organisation (NACO) the number of HIV infections in India in 2001 was 3.79 million which has been re-estimated to 2.47 million in 2007. The figure of 81 lakhs AIDS cases submitted by NACO to Parliament in 1998 has been subsequently scaled down to 38 lakh cases.

In most cases in India the infants or new born get infection through blood - via blood transfusions or needle sharing from mother to child. A pregnant woman can transmit the virus to her foetus through their shared blood circulation, or a nursing mother can transmit it to her baby in her milk

India has high percentage of street children, child workers and out of school children.

Several micro level studies in India on children and adolescents have shown high incident of sexual activity among them. It also indicated a perceived threat of HIV infection among children as main mode of transmission of HIV through sexual contacts