Connections between India and U.S.

The stigmatization of HPV vaccination, a big issue in India, is also present in American society. HPV vaccines are most effective when administered to girls at ages 9-13—however, implementing them in schools is controversial because some parents are uncomfortable and reluctant because it is preventing a sexual disease. People in both societies also do not understand the importance of the vaccination because the effect is not immediate—it is preventing a disease that the girls commonly acquire in middle or old age.

Another similarity between Indian and American patients is that often when patients are presented with symptoms, they show up to the doctor for painkillers. They do not want to take off from work, or recognize the urgency of treating the cause of their symptoms.

Further, the poor carry more of the disease burden in India because they don’t have easy access to preventative services. The same is true for the US.

There is a shortage of doctors in rural areas in India. The same is true for the US.

Some of the same patterns of patient perception and healthcare access are clearly present in both societies. However, I’ve personally observed the US having in general much greater facilities and equipment to combat the problem. Plus, India has a much greater population in poverty and different cultural stigmas and therefore must implement different types of screening and vaccination programs than the US.

The societal role of women in United States and India also affects their healthcare access. In India, many women, especially if they are poor, are housewives and solely depend on their husbands. Many of those that interviewed stated that they do not want to “waste” time on screening and would rather use it to support the family. Our research also found that husbands play a major role in women’s health decisions. However, to me it seems that a higher proportion of women in US work and can support themselves. Based on my experience in US, the American attitude towards sex and sexually-transmitted diseases is much less conservative and more informed. I feel that this allows US women to be more motivated to seek care.

Begging in India

Probably, I felt most guilty and ashamed during my internship when encountering beggars who asked me for money. Despite coming to India every few years and experiencing this every time, I can never get used to it. I would always be asked when I’m in a group—with my co-workers or with my family (when I visited Delhi on weekends). Either way, the group around me would take me away and refuse to make eye-contact with the beggars. In one instance, a group of kids were so desperate that they snatched my food right out of my hands and passed it around to share with each other.

Both my co-workers and my family believe that giving money to the poor, especially poor children, is useless because those children actually work for and pass the money on to someone else. Begging is sometimes done by organized gangs, and beggars can often disfigure or alter their appearance to get more money. Or, they use the money to buy drugs. In addition, if you give money to one person, often many more follow you around and keep asking for more. Therefore, most of the people I’ve met to India normally ignore the beggars.

When I googled this issue online, all the sites recommend to not give money to the poor for these same reasons. One also mentions that the best way to uproot begging is if all people stop passing out money and “let the government continue with its poverty alienation” schemes” to help the poor.

I still am confused about what is the right thing to do. Although I realize that some of these perceptions are valid, it would clearly take at least several years for the government to develop effective policies to help the poor—do we just ignore those in need in the meantime? And even though giving money isn’t as sustainable as providing employment, healthcare access, etc, it will take many years of development and many funds to create programs such as these to support millions of India’s poor.