Khetarpal MN, Bamne AR, Karande AS; International Conference on AIDS.

Int Conf AIDS. 2002 Jul 7-12; 14: abstract no. E11631.

Mumbai Districts AIDS Control Society, Mumbai, India

ISSUE: Women are more vulnerable to HIV infection than men due to physiological, cultural, social & traditional trends & lifestyles accepted for ages together. It is well realized that reforms on these issues are required but still the requisite efforts are yet to be taken. With the advent of HIV infection this has become matter of urgent concern to address & act on issues of Gender discrimination. DESCRIPTION: Mumbai with 12 million population, male to female ratio 1000:933 & estimates 6 million women with varied educational, cultural, religious background. Women are under privileged & have unequal social status as compared to men due to rigid & prefix attitude of the society. There are reformative plans & policies yet no significant changes in status of women, seen through important parameters like female feticide, maternal mortality & morbidity, low literacy rate, etc. Accessibility of services to women is difficult. This task is more compounded in infected & affected individuals. Mumbai Districts AIDS Control Society established for the control of HIV epidemic in Mumbai has taken a leap by proactive role through involvement of Women's Collective, Women's Commission & participation of empowered women in different faculties & capacity building of women. The services with emphasis on women like Comprehensive Health Care Unit & Policy reforms are strongly adopted. LESSONS LEARNT: 1.The Policies, Rules & Schemes for betterment of women are formulated but only fraction gets benefit of it; 2.Services available for HIV positive female are under utilised due to illiteracy & other reasons; 3. In this scenario, the involvement & sensitization of male plays vital role. RECOMMENDATIONS: Comprehensive integrated package of Support & Services with involvement of community & Law enforcing agencies alongwith Policy Reforms on gender issues can only bring in changes for provision of services to women. Women involvement in planning process is also critical.

Publication Types:

• Meeting Abstracts

Keywords:

• Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
• Culture
• Educational Status
• Female
• HIV Infections
• Health Planning
• Health Planning Guidelines
• Health Services
• Humans
• India
• Interpersonal Relations
• Male
• Population
• Public Policy
• United States
• ethnology
• therapy

Other ID:

• GWAIDS0012994

UI: 102250492

From Meeting Abstracts