AIDS, alcohol abuse dip in 3 Mumbai slums after awareness drive

Mumbai: Awareness campaigns and counselling have led to a dip in incidence of HIV-AIDS, extra-marital sex and alcohol abuse among the 700,000 residents of three Mumbai slums, according to a research study.

The project "RISHTA" was undertaken in Mankhurd, Cheeta Camp and Bainganwadi slums in north-east Mumbai between 2001-2007, by the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) in partnership with several other Indian and international organisations, including the University of Connecticut, according to a project spokesman.

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The results show a significant decline in extra-marital sexual relationships, Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), alcohol abuse and gender-based violence - all being part of the same socio-cultural context.

"Not only have STIs declined as was the project objective (gonorrhoea 3.9 to 1.7 percent) but also the extra-marital sex (a major cause of STIs) has dropped from 12.5 to 2.9 percent," said Niranjan Saggurti, the HIV-AIDS Project Director with Population Sciences, one of the partners in the project.

In fact, partner violence has shown a drastic reduction, with an increase in marital sexual satisfaction and gender equity, he added.

Since STIs often preceded HIV, the RISHTA project focussed on reducing STIs through a range of community-based activities such as street theatre, counselling and the involvement of local medical practitioners.

Experts involved in the project say that the findings have thrown up facts that "can be used for planning more campaigns to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS."

"The general belief that HIV is prevalent only among 'high-risk' groups like sex workers, gays, truck drivers, etc, is a myth. While these groups indeed are at higher risk of contracting HIV, emerging data has shown that the HIV is a risk even among married couples living together," Dr. Saggurti said.

Elaborating, the project's principal investigator Stephen L. Schensul from the School of Medicine, University of Connecticut, said a complex set of factors governed the lives of couples in Mumbai, particularly the individuals staying in low income communities.

"Poor living conditions, low incomes, more number of children and limitations in space and privacy (90 percent of Mumbai families live in one room) often contributed to women's disinterest in sex," he said.

In addition to these, there is the problem of adjusting to a different culture and living conditions as more than 54 percent of Mumbai's people live in slums and 25-30 percent live in tenements or clustered housing.

"Their low educational status puts tremendous pressure on the residents, leading men to display their macho-hood through extra-marital sex, alcohol abuse, violence against the intimate partner, violent and coercive sex," Schensul said.

The findings of the study have been published in the latest (June) issue of The American Journal of Community Psychology.

Urging a more inclusive approach, Saroj Pachauri, Population Council's Regional Director for South & East Asia, said: "The project has demonstrated that to bring about lasting change among communities, it is important to work at multiple levels - the individual, the community and their peculiar social and cultural context."

Buoyed by the positive outcome of RISHTA, the IIPS and its partners have now taken up the second phase of the project in the same cluster of slums with a focus on "protecting married women from HIV-AIDS.
Source: IANS