HIV/AIDS conference focuses on Indian cultural challenges: A report from Emory University conference

[Guest guest]

HIV/AIDS conference focuses on Indian cultural challenges

BY robin tricoles

Shortly after the first case of HIV/AIDS was diagnosed in India in 1986, too

many in India believed that the disease could not happen there because the

country’s culture was “different”— and this difference would protect India and

its people from the disease. Twenty years hence, 6 million cases later, and to

the alarm of many, some in India still believe this to be true, said Sundar

Sundararaman, former director of the AIDS Research Foundation of India.

Now the technical adviser to Avahan, a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

initiative aimed at preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS in India, Sundararaman

spoke this month at Emory’s South Asian Studies conference, “What’s Indian about

HIV/AIDS in India?”

He and 23 other speakers, including anthropologists, political scientists,

public health experts, physicians, scientists and writers, from India and the

United States, discussed how India’s economy, culture, government and the rest

of the world shape the HIV/AIDS epidemic in India.

Vineeta Gupta, founder and director of the Stop HIV/AIDS in India Initiative, is

quick to point out that progress is being made in fighting the pandemic.

However, she said, the country still must overcome several serious challenges —

many unique to India — including high population density, an inadequate public

health system, social and cultural values that prevent open and honest

discussions of sexual behavior, a low percentage of sex workers who use condoms

and a high percentage of intravenous drug users who use dirty or inadequately

cleaned needles.

Gupta says one challenge even comes from some health advocates who are not

familiar with India’s social and cultural norms and do not adequately appreciate

the country’s size and diversity. This unfamiliarity has resulted in

misunderstandings, some of which involve seemingly straightforward information

such as the proper way to use a condom to prevent the spread of the disease.

“We’re talking about HIV/AIDS, and attacking it means getting into the most

intimate parts of people’s lives — religious, social and cultural. India has 28

states, 17 major languages, 844 dialects. It is a multicultural, multireligious

society. The [health] programs have to be designed keeping the diversity in

mind,” said Gupta.

http://www.emory.edu/EMORY_REPORT/erarchive/2007/February/February%2026/HIVIndia\

nConf.htm