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Abstract
Hinduism: does the religion say no to sexual and reproductive health?
A. Sakhuja1, B. Prasad2
Issues: India saw a backlash on sexuality education in 2007. Vibrating condom became yet another target of Hindu fundamentalists. Lot of work around Sexual and Reproductive health (SRH) including HIV/AIDS is thwarted by conservative attitudes towards sex in the nation that produced the Kama Sutra.
Description: Vedas and Puranas are philosophical base for various practices. Rituals for every major stage of life right from birth to death are practiced and these get flavored by regional and social differences. There are rituals around pregnancy and child birth, though somewhat distorted now, these were meant to promote health of a pregnant woman, reduce her workload, give her time to take care of herself and the newborn. Discussions with religious leaders reveal that contraception including barrier methods (condoms) is not prohibited by religion.
In fact sex and sexuality has been discussed in Hindu religion and is well represented in cave sculptures like Ajanta/Ellora/Khajuraho and in ancient text like Kama Sutra.
Lessons learned: Religion has provision for promoting SRH of women and men. Religion if interpreted for religious leaders (many of whom are no more well read!) and people, it can become an important source of strength, guidance, and hope against HIV. Many NGOs are successfully engaging with religious leaders at the local level where religious leaders are facilitating the discussions on issues of reproductive health, safe behaviours and care and support to affected individuals and families.
Next steps: Policies in India are reflective of the will of the government to address this issue. The actors involved with the HIV and AIDS prevention and care work need to have simple interpretations of religion that can be used with people (mis)using religion to hinder the SRH and HIV related work. Religious leaders should be involved in designing interventions and communication material/messages on the issue.
AIDS 2008 - XVII International AIDS Conference
Abstract no.
CDD0190
Suggested Citation
"A.Sakhuja, et al.
Hinduism: does the religion say no to sexual and reproductive health?.
:
AIDS 2008 - XVII International AIDS Conference:
Abstract no.
CDD0190"
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