Management of HIV in India has significantly improved with many international and local programmes supporting prevention and treatment. However, there are areas in India where women and children living with HIV endure a myriad of medical, psychological and social challenges. Women in rural poor areas in India have little control over important aspects of their life. Often, they have little decision‐making powers within their families on matters that affect them personally. They find themselves unable to negotiate to protect themselves from harm or risk of infection. Those who are known to have contracted HIV are reluctant to access health care for fear of discrimination and marginalization, leading to a disproportionate death rate in HIV women. India is arguably home to the largest number of orphans of the HIV epidemic. These children face an impenetrable barrier in many Indian societies and endure stigmatization. This situation encourages concealment of the disease and discourages children and their guardians from accessing available essential services. This article provides an overview of the relevant literature and presents an insight into a complex mix of issues that arise directly out of the HIV diagnosis, including the role of social attitudes in the spread of HIV, and in creating barriers to accessing care. The review identifies international programmes and local initiatives that have ensured better access to antiretroviral therapy and have led to prolonged survival and reduction in the vertical transmission of HIV in India.

The Research Agenda generated by the 7th World Workshop on Oral Health and Disease in AIDS (WW7) is delivered in this paper. Panels of international experts presided over nine workshops that constituted the conference held in November 2014 in Hyderabad, India. The main goal of the Workshop was to bring together clinician and scientists interested in the subject to debate with world-wide perspectives current issues related to the oral manifestations in HIV/ AIDS. The workshops were structured around three themes; basic science, clinical/translational science and social science and were attended by 135 participants from 31 countries. The research questions debated at the workshops are presented in nine consensus papers published in this issue and are summarised in this paper along with an outline of the identified research needs in the field. Oral Diseases (2016) 22, 211-214

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Serial lip impressions appear to be reliable for routine quantification of morphological changes of the lips in OFG patients. We present a new reproducible and sensitive method for assessing changes in lip size in response to treatment in OFG.

The present chemoprophylaxis programme for opportunistic oral infections requires revision. Systems of microbiological surveillance and cross-infection control monitoring in relation to immunocompromised patients need to be developed to decrease the possibility of nosocomial transmission of potential pathogens between hospitalised children with AIDS, their mothers and health care providers.