Devadasis and HIV/AIDS Prevention

[Guest guest]

Dear Forum Members,

Has anybody done any study on " Devadasi System in the context of HIV/AIDS

intervention or any case study on best intervention among Devadasis for

HIV/AIDS/STD prevention? "

" The practice of devadasi continues in several southern states. Literally

meaning female servant of god. Once dedicated, the girl is unable to marry,

forced to become a prostitute. and eventually auctioned into an urban brothel.

Like other forms of violence against women, ritualized prostitution, activists

believe, is a system designed to kill whatever vestiges of self-respect and keep

them underprivileged.” (Human Rights Watch World Report 1999, VII

`Discrimination and Exploitative Forms of Labor')

I will be grateful if somebody could provide the information on this

Thanks and Regards

Anil

E-mail: <pkanilkumar@...>