The interrelationship between culture type

Socio-Economic status of HIV/AIDS affected Urban Women ¹ O.Aisha Manju & Dr.D.Nirmala²(¹Assistant Professor, Dept. of Social Work, Bharathidasan University , Trichy.ABSTRACT HIV/AIDS is a threat to social and economic development and treatment of HIV/AIDS patients must be accompanied with other social and economic development and treatment of HIV/AIDS patients must be accompanied with other social measures to enhance their physical,mentaland social well-being (Dasgupta,Saha and Malik,2008).According to the Ministry of housing and Poverty Alleviation (India), 41%of the people living with HIV are from Urban India. The epidemic was first identified in the industrial city of Chennai and urbanizations has been the major contributing factor in the spread of the HIV within the country with major cities falling in the districts highlighted as high prevalent for HIV. The extra burden of care brought on by AIDS is falling on the shoulders of millions of women, with implications for their health, nutritional well-being, Psycho social status, and those of their dependent children (Gilespie and Kadiyala 2005). The main objective of the study is to know the Socio economic status of urban women living with HIV/AIDS. By applying simple random sampling method, data was collected from 50 respondents at an NGO which supports PLHA in Trichy. Descriptive research design was adopted. The tools for data collection consisted of a questionnaire on personal data and the second part consisted of Socio Economic Status Inventory-Kalliath SES Inventory(Author: R.P.Kalliath).Based on the major findings suitable suggestions were made to improve the respondent’s Socio economic Status. (Key words: Urban, Women, Socio economic status, Prevalent, Affected) INTRODUCTIONHIV/AIDS has become part of the permenant condition in human settlements around the world especially in Africa and Asia.The highest incidence of HIV/AIDS is in cities and towns(UN HABITAT).The interrelationship between culture, gender and urbanization is a complex one. The poorest of the poor in urban areas are women, all the more so as they remain hostages to patriarchal ideologies. Since the threat that AIDS epidemics pose for food security was recognized in the late 1980s(Gillespie 1989).Labour loss occurs not only as a result of sickness and premature adult death, but also as a result of its relocation to nurse the ill,While working capital and income is siphoned off to pay mounting medical bills.The degree and type of vulnerability depend on the characteristics of families, livelihoods and farming systems. AIDS has also affected commercial agriculture although companies have become adept of shifting. REVIEW OF LITERATURE Benschop (2002) notes that as compared to rural areas,women in cities and towns tend to have more access to land and housing;women,more often than not ,own shacks or structures in informal settlements or rent a house or room.”(Breakthrough T.V)Lack of access and control over housing in informal urban areas is a major problem for women.in some cases, women are discriminated against and at times landlords evict them from their rented rooms for non-payment. For many low income urban dwellers and particularly women, the situation is such that the resources for adequate shelter.38% of all HIV positive people in India are women yet only 25% of beds in aids care centres in India are occupied by them.UN-HABITAT,2004) Poor urban females are marginalized at least twice, because of gender and because of their physical and social conditions. They bear the brunt of the on going transformation of traditional family structures, not to mention HIV/AIDS and its consequences.” (UNGASS 2008) “It is thought that hiv has spread among the general population in india because the epidemic has followed what is known as the ‘type 4’ pattern. This is where new infections occur first among the most vulnerable populations(such as injecting drug users and female sex workers),then spread to bridge populations (clients of sex workers and sexual partners of drug users)and then finally enter the general population.” (UNHCR 2004) “Some 25 percent of the world’s households have women as their heads and in urban areas(especially in Latin America and Africa)that proportion can exceed 50 per cent.women typically represent a high proportion of those settlements worldwide,and they are among the poorest.”. MATERIALS AND METHODS The objective of the study is to know the socio demographic characteristics of the respondents and to assess the socio-economic status of the respondents. Descriptive research design was used. The researcher used simple random sampling method to collect data from 50 HIV/AIDS affected urban women.The researcher used interview schedule and Kalliath Socio-Economic Status Inventory(R.P.Kalliath,1988).The inventory assesses the socio-economic status of individuals on the following criteria: Type of family, number of members in the family, type of accommodation, facilities and services available at home, Articles and gadgets cost, total monthly income, literacy level of parents/spouses, occupation of parents/spouses, exposure to media, library and club membership interaction among members on social, economic and political issues. Hypotheses are 1)There is a significant association between the type of family and socio-economic status.2)There is a significant association between literacy level of the respondents and socio-economic status 3)There is a significant association between female headed family and socio-economic status 4) There is a significant association between occupation of the spouses and socio-economic status5)There is a significant association between physical health of the respondents and socio-economic status 6)There is a significant association between number of children and socio-economic status7)There is a significant association between type of living and socio-economic status. 8)There is significant association between migration and socio-economic status.To analyze the hypotheses statistical tests like chi-square test, t-test and F- test was applied. Results and Discussion: Table No ISocio Demographic conditionSl.no Socio demographic condition Number of respondentsN= 50 Percentage1 Age a.18-25 b.26-33 c.34-41 d.42-49 921128 184224162 Educationa.Illitrateb.Primaryc.SSLCd.Higher Secondarye.Degree2141913 2 4283826 43 Place of livinga.Urbanb.Semi urban 46 4 92 84 No.of childrena.Nilb.Onec.Twod.Threee.Four4172162 834421245 Head of the familya.Maleb.Female2129 42586 Migrant from ruralAreaa.Yesb.No42 8 8416The above table explains the socio demographic status of the respondents. The table reveals that less than half(42%) belong to 26-33 years old and more than one forth of the respondents had education up to SSLC. With regard to the place of living majority of them(92%)living in urban areas.With regard the number of children,less than half (42%)had two children. With regard to the head of the family,more than half(58%) of the families were female headed.The above table also reveals that majority(84%)of the respondents migrated from rural area.Table No IIOverall Kalliath SES InventorySl.no Particulars No.of respondents(n=50) Percentage(100%)1 Low 33 66.02 High 17 34.0Mean: 40.30 / Median: 38.00 / S.D.: 5.534 / Min.: 32 / Max.: 57Table No 2 reveals that more than half (66%) of the respondents had perceived lower regarding SES Inventory. Less than half (34%) had perceived higher regarding the SES Inventory.Table no IIIAssociation between Age and Overall Kalliath SES InventorySl.no Age Overall Kalliath SES Inventory Statistical inferenceLow(n=33) High(n=17) 1 18 to 25yrs 5 (15.2%) 4 (23.5%) X2=5.295Df=3.151>0.05Not Significant2 26 to 33yrs 12 (36.4%) 9 (52.9%) 3 34 to 41yrs 8 (24.2%) 4 (23.5%) 4 41 to 48yrs 8 (24.2%) 0 Chi-square test was applied to find out the association between Age and Overall Kalliath SES Inventory.The calculated value (5.295) is greater than the table value at 5% level of significance. Since the calculated value is greater than the table value it is inferred that there is a significant difference among the age and overall socio economic status of the respondents. Hence the null hypothesis is rejected.Table no IVOneway analysis of variance among the Respondent’s education and Socio-Economic Status F Test Sl.no Overall Kalliath SES Inventory Mean S.D SS Df MS Statistical inference1 Between Groups 315.919 4 78.980 F=3.000.028<0.05SignificantIlliterate (n=2) 45.00 .000 Basic education (n=14) 40.14 5.304 SSC (n=19) 38.11 1.883 Intermediate (n=13) 43.62 7.932 Degree (n=2) 36.00 .000 2 Within Groups 1184.581 45 26.324 One way analysis of variance was applied to find out the difference among the Education and socio economic status of the respondents. One way analysis of variance was applied to find out the difference among the educational qualification of the respondents and overall socio economic status .The calculated value (3) is greater than the table value at 5% level of significance. Since the calculated value is greater than the table value it is inferred that there is a significant difference among the educational qualification of respondents and overall socio economic status of the respondents. Hence the null hypothesis is rejected. It means the respondent’s education has more influence on socio economic status. Table no VOneway analysis of variance among the Respondent’s occupation and Socio-Economic Status F TestSl.no Overall Kalliath SES Inventory Mean S.D SS Df MS Statistical inference1 Between Groups 263.709 3 87.903 F=3.269.029<0.05Significant Daily wages (n=26) 40.38 6.394 Job with monthly salary (n=4) 39.00 3.464 Homemaker (n=13) 43.08 3.662 Self employed (n=7) 35.57 1.718 2 Within Groups 1236.791 46 26.887 One way analysis of variance was applied to find out the difference among the Employment and socio economic status of the respondents. One way analysis of variance was applied to find out the difference among the educational qualification of the respondents and overall socio economic status .The calculated value (3.269) is greater than the table value at 5% level of significance. Since the calculated value is greater than the table value it is inferred that there is a significant difference among the employment status of respondents and overall socio economic status of the respondents. Hence the null hypothesis is rejected. It means the respondent’s employment has more influence on socio economic status.Table no VICorrelation between the socio-economic status of respondent’s No.of children,Co-infectionsOverall Kalliath SES Inventory Correlation value Statistical inference No.of children.279(*)P <0.05 SignificantMigrant from rural area .123P>0.05Not significantCo-infections -.145 P <0.05 not Significant * Correlation is significant at the 0.05 levelSocial work interventionsSocial workers can adopt Special measures to empower women living with HIV/AIDS in urban areas.The socially and economically poor women living with HIV/AIDS in urban areas should be entitled to access of more resources.Social workers can organize more programmes for women living with HIV/AIDS in urban areas through vocational guidance, and small scale industrial practice etc.Social workers should be able to change the attitude of the society towards women living with HIV/AIDS in urban areas.Social workers should conduct more awareness programmes on various health problems.Increasing number of children also brings out economic burden for the single headed women.The self help group activities are aiming rural women and there is a gap between urban schemes and urban women particularly HIV/AIDS affected women.The busy life style and stress in life makes urban poor women to take proper decision on improving their overall social,economical,mental status.Social workers should able to help them to attain their overall development and make them aware of their importance to the family as well as to the society. CONCLUSIONAccording to Population council, integrating HIV and family planning services can increase access to health care and improve outcomes. Education can be considered as a tool to prevent HIV infections.Eventhough all the respondents in this study is Urban Women,most of them have been migrated from rural areas.As per this study urbanization has significant influences on migrants’ health but doesn’t influence much to socio-economic status. The increasing movement of people from rural to urban areas often alters the characteristic epidemiological disease profile of a country and migrants show high rates of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS(UN HABITAT). Because of their high mobility, migrants tend to spread the virus when they return to rural areas, where health facilities are not as well equipped to deal with the infection as they are in cities. Blanc (2000)argues that education promotes both logical and different ways of thinking,which allow better educated people to take action in protecting their health. Poverty coupled with the far reaching gender inequalities in India,dramatically increases the vulnerability of women to HIV(Aids Alliance india). Wives experienced the maximum burden, as their spouses lost jobs and they themselves were either poorly paid or ill equipped to start earning(Bharath,1997).REFERENCES1.Bharat S. Facing the challenge household and community response to HIV/AIDS in Mumbai, India (Executive Summary) In: Agarwal OP, Sharma AK, Indrayan A, editors. HIV/AIDS Research in India. New Delhi: National AIDS Control Organization, Ministry of Health and Family Welfar; 1997. pp. 372–5.2.Blanc, A. K. 2000. The Relationship Between Sexual Behaviour and Level of Education in Developing Countries. Geneva, Switzerland, UNAIDS.2.Benschop, M. (2002). 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