India: Poverty, Gender Imbalances a Lethal Mix for HIV/AIDS

This article describes the efforts of a small rural village in India which is attempting to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Seventy percent of India's population lives in the countryside and the village of Hasampur is used to illustrate what other similar villages are facing throughout India.

The article focuses on a project under way in Hasampur entitled "Migrants of Rajasthan Project" (HAMARA), an Indo-Canadian initiative. The project, in partnership with the Rajasthan (state) government, has targeted 133 villages and focused on building HIV/AIDS awareness among migrants, their spouses, and potential migrants. One of the project's outreach workers, Jugnaswamy, describes going from door to door to meet women and discuss their day-to-day lives and health issues. When the subject of sexually transmitted diseases comes up Jugnaswamy describes people as very shy. Yet there is a transformation. According to Jugnaswamy "our peer workers can demonstrate the correct way of using the condom." She goes on to say "those who get converted to the mantra of condoms and caring can depend on the village barber or vegetable vendors for contraceptives, such as condoms, that they give free of charge."

Statistics in the article claim that some 5.1 million people are living with HIV/AIDS in India. According to Chatterjee one of the biggest challenges taking place in rural India is the fact that the health issues of small villages like Hasampur remain unheard. Hasampur is described as "at high risk due to its lethal mix of glaring disparities between men and women, untreated sexually transmitted infections and low literacy, poverty and increasing migration." The article describes migration, a traditional survival mechanism in much of rural India, as a crucial factor in understanding the epidemics in the country.

Chatterjee suggests that one of the greatest challenges of the HIV/AIDS pandemic is the fact that many village women with HIV/AIDS go to traditional healers, or private hospitals where the information about their health remains unknown. The subject of sex is considered taboo and many women are afraid to discuss their health with their husbands. It is this vulnerability and risk that according to Chaterjee "should form the basis of planning for prevention and care and support programmes."