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Volume 35, Numbers 1 and 2, March and September - Special
Issue on
Women, HIV/AIDS and Human Rights Sponsored by UNESCO, New Delhi. |
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Gender and
HIV/AIDS in Nepal: Some Observations
Shirisha Amatya
The rapid spread of HIV means that AIDS is looming as a huge
threat to most developing countries. This paper aims to explore
several aspects of HIV/AIDS and their social connections in the
Nepalese society. The paper is divided into three parts. The
first part deals with the socio-economic background of the
country. The socio-economic impact of the epidemic operates at
different ends, of the range, of time perspectives, the very
short and the very long. When illness strikes, it weakens an
individual; the household and the community, complicating their
lives. The second part describes the epidemiological instruments
through which we construct our knowledge about the cumulative
effects of the disease. The risk and the vulnerability of the
disease to the population as a whole, how they are faced with
societal dilemmas. The third section focuses on the gender
aspect of HIV/AIDS in the changing Nepalese society. It is
suggested that the unequal relations of gender make it
particularly difficult for women to initiate or negotiate safer
sex practices, because of the negative responses from men. In
Nepal, low level of literacy, high level of poverty and
unemployment and the poor socio-economic conditions of women are
also the major causes of attaining the infection.
Key Words: Nepal, HIV/AIDS, Gender, Sex workers. |
