in india per cent of mainstream population has heard about hivaids compared to only per cent of women from scheduled tribes who have received such information the situations of bangladesh and nepal are also similar as per cent of the population has ever heard of hivaids and only per cent of women have complete information on transmission of the disease in bangladesh disparity between the indigenous and nonindigenous peoples in nepal with regard to knowledge about hivaids remains a cause of concern as the only per cent of women among the indigenous peoples living in southern plains of nepal known as tarai have heard about hivaids compared to national average of per cent indigenous women lack direct links and access to public information and mass media and most importantly it is not communicated in their mother tongue the first and oftencited reason is the distance to the health facilities as most indigenous peoples in asia live in remote parts of the country where government has not invested in the health infrastructure thus leaving the majority of indigenous populations to rely on the traditional medicines and methods for health care