Women in Bangladesh and HIV/AIDS

Women in Bangladesh and HIV/AIDS

Md. Ismail Hossain
Assistant Director
Bangladesh Bank,
Dhaka, Bangladesh
mail.hossain@gmail.com

HIV/AIDS affects everyone in both developed and less develops countries. It is not a disease of poverty. It is not individual problem. But the epidemic does push people deeper into poverty, making it more difficult for them to sustain or recover their earlier livelihoods. That, in turn, can make people and their families more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS infection. More or less 40 million people are infected with HIV/AIDS in the world. Every day 14,000 people getting infected HIV and among them 90% of less developed countries. HIV/AIDS also threatens to move backward the progress that economies have made in many poor countries. Poverty reduction can help limit people's vulnerability to the epidemic.

The Bangladesh consist most traditional background that gender discrimination is common feature, Less jobs opportunity, economics dependency and abuse of women's rights and illicit trafficking of girls and women are major reasons leading to increasing discrimination against women. Women are disproportionately infected with HIV/AIDS for biological, social and economic reasons. Globally, 47% of HIV-positive adults are women: in sub-Saharan Africa this figure rises to 55%.

The ‘Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallyan Foundation’ identified four major approaches in a groundbreaking study on spread out HIV in Bangladesh. This study undertook by comparing of social-economic norm, family pattern, economic dependency, cause of mounting sex industries, gender discrimination status & global analysis fact. There are four factors that appear to play a crucial role in HIV transmission in Bangladesh: Injection/ intravenous drug use (By sharing needle), female sex work (Due to lack of safe sex knowledge), gender discrimination (which indirectly force females commercial or non-commercial sex), Same sex/ homosexually/ Hizra (Due to lack of HIV/AIDS information, because they act invisible in this society). Poverty & illiteracy fueled it proportionally.

Girls are particularly vulnerable to HIV/STDs infection in all regions, IT is thought that teen age is a period of multiple, rapid, and profound changes and transitions. Such concerns are particularly important for adolescent girls: Adolescent girls today are much more oppressed. They are coming of age in a more dangerous, sexualized, and media-saturated culture. They face incredible pressures to be beautiful and sophisticated, by chemicals which mean to encourage them to be sexual. As they navigate a more dangerous world, girls are less protected. On the other hand, the low social status of women in many poor countries encourages gender discrimination, domestic and sexual violence and psychological abuse, so that they have no control to negotiate safe sex.

The HIV/AIDS programme specialist Mr. Mohammad Khairul Alam said, “several social norms and immature behavior fueled of this disease to scatter rapidly. There are several social components link to develop this harmful situation. Poverty-behind to force it, Gender discrimination plays a vital role; Frustration & risk behavior help to sink humanity resulting infection. The link between poverty & gender discrimination are help to decline socio economic prosperity. This link creates several anti social poisonous issues also. Such as trafficking to prostitute, sell sex for earn or living, break down family norm to create frustration and driven drug point. We notice easily that Illiteracy is the main watchword of all circumstance. So it is not easy to remove it from the society, several programs & strategy are needed to gain sustainable position”.

Women in Bangladesh are largely getting sexual experience through marriage and for the most part, premarital sexual contact is mostly confined to their future husband or lovers. Nowadays, sexual behaviour among women in Bangladesh is changing. Adolescent girls may not remain in the traditional sexual confinement of the previous generations and casual sex among them is on the rise. This may encourage AIDS to acquire alarming proportions in Bangladesh.

HIV/AIDS in Bangladesh, therefore depends on the conditions in the commercial sex industry, including the frequency of the incidents of men visiting commercial sex workers. Providing clean needles is also considered important because it decreases the spread of HIV from injection drug-users. It is also important to bring a behavioural change among commercial sex workers (CSWs) by promoting the use of condom.

References: Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallyan Foundation, UNAIDS
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