Nearly 53,000 of India’s 2.5 million HIV cases are children, the Times of India reports.

According to Ghulam Nabi Azad, the country’s health minister, as of May 2009 there are 52,973 HIV-positive children in India. Azad says that India is attempting to address this problem with initiatives such as the Prevention of Parent to Child Transmission (PPTCT) program that, in 2008, counseled and tested 4.1 million expectant mothers. The initiative provided prophylactic treatment for 10,179 out of the 19,986 mothers who tested positive.

In addition, India’s National AIDS Control Program provides services to about 758,600 HIV-positive Indian citizens.