NEW DELHI: Women and girl children, apart from being more vulnerable to HIV infection, have to bear an additional burden when someone in the family is infected with the disease. It is the girl child who is more likely to be withdrawn from school to cope with household chores including caring for the ill, a study on the Gender Impact of HIV and AIDS in India has shown.

According to the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) estimates for 2005, in India, women account for about two million of the approximately 5.2 million estimated cases of HIV and AIDS, constituting 39 per cent of all HIV infections. Of the 1,11,608 AIDS cases reported in the country until July 31 last year, females accounted for nearly 30 per cent.

Caregivers

The burden of caring for People Living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) is also proportionately higher in the case of women, whether or not they themselves are HIV positive. Of the 882 caregivers in the families surveyed, 627 were women — 91 per cent of them in the age group 15-59. Twenty per cent of the caregivers themselves were HIV positive, as against 16 per cent in the case of men.

Conducted by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and supported by the NACO and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the study concludes that not only does women's workload at home increase, but they are also required to take up employment to supplement lost earnings.

Gender gap

In a clear indication of the gender gap in treatment seeking behaviour, close to 9.7 per cent of the patients were left untreated in the case of HIV/AIDS affected women, the study found, nearly double the case of men. Also, women were more likely to get treated in health facilities run by government or non-government organisations in comparison to a greater proportion of men being treated at private nursing homes. Only 29.8 per cent of the women surveyed went to private health facilities for non-hospitalised illnesses, against 41.3 per cent in the case of men. A similar picture can be seen in the case of hospitalised illnesses.

Impact on children

While HIV and AIDS have a negative impact on children from affected households, it is the girl child who is more likely to be withdrawn to cope with household chores or to supplement the family income. All PLHWAs face stigma and discrimination; the women face the worst forms of discrimination. More women than men faced discrimination such as neglect, isolation and verbal teasing in both urban and rural areas.

Households headed by HIV positive widows are also found to be economically worse off than other HIV households, with the average at Rs. 32,993 in the case of women and Rs. 51,111 in the case of men. The average per capita expenditure by HIV positive widow household was Rs. 790. Moreover, the savings of HIV positive widow households was lower and indebtedness higher than other HIV households.

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