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Published on: 11/10/2005
Last Visited: 11/10/2005
"It is very hard for people to think of HIV as a normal everyday issue to talk about and with the particularly strong stigma tied to HIV it is even harder for those in religious settings in the Asian communities," said NYAM Senior Research Associate Dr. John Chin, who has been researching HIV in Asian communities since 1989.
The study, which focuses on leaders and members of a Buddhist temple in Chinatown as well as a Hindu temple, an Islamic center and a mosque in Queens, revealed that Chinese, Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi immigrants have many misconceptions when it comes to HIV transmission and treatments.
The misconceptions range from the fear of contracting HIV if active in HIV prevention and education, to being shunned in communities if HIV education or help for HIV-positive people were offered.
Chin said the fallacies stem from the fact that Asians generally link subjects considered "inappropriate" to discuss in a religious setting - such as sex outside of marriage, homosexuality and drug use - to HIV transmission.
The study, which is the first of its kind, comes at a time as is AIDS reaching epidemic proportions in parts of the Asia-Pacific region including China and India, with an estimated 8.2 million people living with the disease as of the end of 2004, Chin said.
"The problem is that the Asian population is growing and as it does people are traveling back and forth," he said."And those who are coming to the U.S. as undocumented often stop in Thailand or Cambodia and become infected there, which is unfortunate because they are unprepared and are not getting proper HIV education in their home countries."
When immigrants do arrive in the United States they find themselves in the same position with no prevention or treatment education because some leaders of Asian religious institutions believe HIV poses only a minimal risk for the Asian community, Chin added.
These religious institutions are awash in "the tension between morality and compassion," Chin said.
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The religious institutions did consider four significant factors that would determine what role they would play, if any, in HIV prevention, Chin said.The factors include community need, how HIV prevention fits with the institution's purpose, response of the wider ethnic community and to what extent participation would violate informal or formal institutional policies or religious teachings.
In efforts to not violate religious teachings and policies yet still address the issue, the Hindu temple currently shows an HIV video during ita annual health fair and the Islamic mosque offers minimal HIV prevention training, but many immigrants are not aware of the information.
"To avoid conflict with religious teachings, prevention and treatment methods could be approached from a health orientation discussing how HIV works and how to protect oneself," Chin said."The subject can easily be discussed without promoting extramarital sex and homosexuality." Chin also suggested prayer sessions that would expression compassion for all people affected for more conservative institutions.
"Religious institutions' involvement could have a tremendous impact on preserving and protecting the health of New York City's Asian immigrants and those with whom they come in contact," Chin said.
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