Panos London

AIDS, A Disease Largely of Poverty

Mohammad Khairul Alam

Executive Director

Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallyan Foundation

24/3 M. C. Roy Lane

Dhaka-1211, Bangladesh

rainbowngo@gmail.com

www.newsletter.com

Tell: 880-2-8628908

Mobile: 01711344997

The connection of HIV/AIDS with humanitarian crises is creating troubling new problems for all over the world. By the end of 2006, about more or less 39.5 million people worldwide were livings with HIV/AIDS, 90% of them in poor and developing countries. During 2006 alone, a total of 4.3 million adults and children were found to be newly infected with HIV, and in the same year, 2.9 million people died from HIV/AIDS - 85% of them Africans. In two decades, AIDS has killed almost 30 million people and orphaned over 14 million children.

Social conflict, violence, political situation, Gender discrimination, poverty, women trafficking, early marriage, domestic and sexual violence, exploitation of sex workers, nutrition status, transmission of other STDs, intravenous/ injection drug abuse are among the socio-cultural factors, traditional social values linked to the spread of HIV/AIDS. Behaviors of injecting drug users (IDUs) in Bangladesh place them at very high risk for HIV infection. Currently 8.9% of people registered with HIV/AIDS infected the virus through injecting drug use in the central area.

The Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallyan Foundation & L.R.B Foundation jointly survey focuses on the attitude, behavior and practice of commercial & non- commercial / casual sex workers (so-called sex workers), floating/ street sex workers in Dhaka city in Bangladesh, this study did point out that almost 16% of sex workers enter the profession before the age of 18 years, and 30% enter between 18 to 24 years of age. Approximately 10% of prostitutes belong to the scheduled castes minority people; about 90% floating sew workers enrolled due to poverty.

Though, poverty does not the major cause HIV/AIDS infection; it can facilitate transmission, Poverty makes people more vulnerable to HIV infection, due to lack of health care knowledge, lack of proper digest, and lack of sufficient nutrition, which can result in a weaker immune system. They also have less access to healthcare facilities and education on health issues such as HIV prevention. Sequentially, the epidemic amplifies and become deeper poverty by its serious economic impact on individuals, households and different sectors of the economy. Poverty is the reason why messages of prevention and control do not make an impact on a vast majority of the vulnerable population. So it is fact, poverty & gender discrimination would be the one of the main cause of the spread of AIDS in Bangladesh, The rate of vulnerability to HIV/AIDS is our country is higher then the many parts of the world.

Human trafficking, often qualified as the ‘modern day slavery’, is caused by human rights violations embodied in poverty while it also contributes to increased deprivation. Poverty is one of the main factors leading people, especially women, girls and children to fall preys to the traffickers.

Poverty, Gender discrimination and Human Trafficking and HIV/AIDS are correlated. In turn, human trafficking locks up the trafficked persons in poverty through exploitation. This vicious circle ‘poverty – human trafficking – HIV/AIDS’ denies individuals the basic right to education and information, the right to health, the right to decent work, the right to security and justice. Mr. Anirudha Alam, assistant Director of BEES said, poverty effects and is aggravated by poor maternal health, gender inequity, and lack of birth control knowledge and contraceptive methods. This holistic view has helped slow the increase in world population. This circle is making more vulnerable of humankind.

Bangladesh is developing country, the common feature in rural areas is very poor, and most of them live on agro-base works, poverty and illiteracy is ordinary fact in here. Incidentally, in general health care system is very poor in Bangladesh. Thousands of people die in every year by several seasonal diseases. Particular health care or prevention knowledge would prevent this fatal mortality. Rural women, in generally have less access to information and education and are therefore less able to make an informed response to the disease.

Reference: FHI, UNAIDS, World Bank