HIV/AIDS in India: Voices from the Margins

Routledge Research on Gender in Asia

by Sunita Manian

India ranks third in the number of people living with HIV/AIDS globally. The country has high levels of poverty and inequality, poor healthcare infrastructure, especially away from the metropolitan areas, and a legacy of colonialism that bequeathed laws criminalizing non-heteronormative sexualities. These factors mean that many minority groups do not receive adequate access to preventative and treatment programs. This book explores the HIV/AIDS epidemic in India. Based on research in Tamil Nadu, it presents experiences of those marginalized by their sexuality and/ or gender, their struggles and their triumphs. Based on interviews with male and female sex-workers, men who have sex with men, aravanis (male to female transgenders) and HIV positive women―groups usually not included in the policy-making by Indian government agencies, international donors and international NGOs―the author uses an interdisciplinary approach. The approach highlights the historical and cultural context, while providing contemporary narratives. The book thus presents a deeper, multi-dimensional, understanding of the context of the disease and comprehends the roots of the stigma and discrimination that exacerbate the epidemic. An important study of the global HIV/AIDS epidemic, this book will be of interest to researchers in the field of South Asian Studies, Sexuality and Gender Studies, Health Sciences and Public Health.

196 pages, Paperback

Published December 12, 2019

Reviews

[Parth · Rating 4 out of 5]

The biggest strength of this wonderful project by Sunita Manian is that it privileges testimonies and accounts of positive people rather than rely on the same trite arguments published over and over again. The chapter on non-heteronormative sexualities is one of the most eye opening ones, laying bare the daily violence and stigma queer folks go through in this country.

A must read for a great insight into the epidemic in India.