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Nexus between Human Development and HIV/AIDSHIV/AIDS has anegativeassociation withHDI, mainlythrough a declinein life expectancyat birth.Pakistan. 16 Given that South Asiacontributes a large number of workers anddomicile residents, these restrictivepolicies curtail livelihood options forpeople in the region and violate humanrights of migrants and travellers. SouthAsian migrants working overseas are oftendeported because of their HIV status withno support or counselling provided.Marginalisation and discriminationof vulnerable groupsThe fact that it is marginalised groups—sex workers, migrants, injecting drugusers and men who have sex with men—who have so far been most severelyaffected by HIV/AIDS in South Asia hasresulted in these groups being blamedfor its spread. This has led to theirfurther marginalisation, stigmatisation,harassment and discrimination. Apartfrom violations of their rights, this alsomakes them face greater social exclusion.This, in turn, only increases theirvulnerability to HIV and allows theepidemic to spread because they are thenless able to access the information,services and support needed to protectthemselves and others from infection.They also become more vulnerable toabuse and exploitation, as seen in thesexual abuse experienced by men whohave sex with men in Bangladesh. 17 Suchincreased marginalisation also reducesthe livelihood security and opportunitiesof these groups, thereby heightening theirvulnerability to HIV/AIDS by promptingunsafe migration or sex work.Impact on womenNearly 36 per cent of all PLWHA in Southand South East Asia are women. 18 Thespread of the epidemic in a region withalready highly unequal gender relationsaffects men and women differently. Theimpact of the epidemic falls primarilyon women in four different, thoughrelated, ways:llllwomen shoulder the increased burdenof care within the household andthe community, in addition to theirdomestic work and economicresponsibilities;this increased care or the disease itselflessens the ability of women to workin the formal, informal or agriculturalsectors, leading to a further loss ofincome, reduction in child care andfood security;in cases where the male members ofthe household stop earning or die ofAIDS, the women are left to providefor the rest of the family, and this caninclude being pushed into the sextrade; andfinally, women are often blamed fortheir family’s and their own sickness,and are ostracised by the extendedfamily and community, leading to theirbearing the social and psychologicalburden of the disease as well. 19Measuring the impact of HIV onhuman developmentThere have been several attempts tomeasure the aggregated impact ofHIV/AIDS on human development. Thissection assesses the statistical relationshipbetween HIV and human developmentand some of its components—lifeexpectancy, educational achievements,and real GDP per capita, 20 particularly forSouth Asia.The estimates show that HIV/AIDS has anegative association with HDI, mainlythrough a decline in life expectancy atbirth. For the countries in South Asia,however, the estimated impact ofHIV/AIDS on overall human developmentis likely to have been small, owingsimply to the relatively small scale of theepidemic thus far. For instance, in Indiaas a whole, the effect of the AIDS epidemicbetween 1980 and 1998 would havebeen to reduce the HDI in 1999 by about22Regional Human Development ReportHIV/AIDS and Development in South Asia 2003