Journal of Community Medicine & Health Education
Open Access

Research Article

Targeted Interventions in HIV/AIDS and Gender Disparities in Health Services Utilization among HIV Infected of Delhi, India

Ekta Saroha^1* and Naghma Qureshi²

¹United States Agency for International Development, USAID-India, Chanakya Puri, New Delhi, India

²Center for Early Childhood Development and Research, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India

*Corresponding Author:

Ekta Saroha
Project Management Specialist
USAID-India, Chanakya Puri
New Delhi-110021, India
Tel: +91-011 91 2419 8171
Fax: +91-011 91 2419 8612
E-mail: esaroha@usaid.gov

Received date: July 18, 2012; Accepted date: August 11, 2012; Published date: August 14, 2012

Citation: Saroha E, Qureshi N (2012) Targeted Interventions in HIV/AIDS and Gender Disparities in Health Services Utilization among HIV Infected of Delhi, India. J Community Med Health Educ 2:168. doi: 10.4172/2161-0711.1000168

Copyright: © 2012 Saroha E, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Objective: In India 2.5 million people are positive for HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) where men population is more than women. Targeted intervention overlooks gender variations and focuses on “high risk groups”. Gender disparities are lesser known. Objective of this study was to examine HIV/AIDS healthcare services utilization disparities among male, female, and ‘other’ PLHIVs in Delhi, India.
Methods: Data from a cross-sectional study for a convenience sample of 355 adult PLHIVs were analyzed in 2011. Chi-square test, ANOVA, and multivariable logistic regression helped determine odds of HIV/AIDS healthcare services utilization by male and female PLHIVs compared to ‘other’ PLHIVs.
Results: Male PLHIVs were less likely to use pre-test counseling (ORa=0.18, 95% CI: 0.03, 0.96, p<0.05), treatment for any STI (ORa=0.30, 95% CI: 0.12, 0.73, p<0.05), and free condoms (ORa=0.24, 95% CI: 0.07, 0.80, p<0.05), than ‘other’ PLHIVs. Contrarily, male PLHIVs were 3 times (ORa: 3.29, 95% CI: 1.37, 10.87, p<0.05) more likely to get treated for any opportunistic infections than ‘other’ PLHIVs. Female PLHIVs were less likely to utilize pretest counseling (ORa: 0.16, 95% CI: 0.03, 0.70, p<0.05) and free condoms (ORa: 0.06, 95% CI: 0.01, 0.25, p<0.05) than ‘other’ PLHIVs.
Conclusions: Utilization of HIV/AIDS healthcare services varied by gender among adult PLHIVs of Delhi.
Targeted intervention strategy in India augment gender disparities in HIV/AIDS healthcare and inhibit utilization among male and female PLHIVs. Universal access can foster gender equity.

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