Spotlight on dating apps for role in adding to HIV-AIDS burden in India

The top AIDS research institute in India is set to undertake a first-ever study to assess the role of dating apps such as Tinder and OkCupid, among others, in contributing to the HIV and AIDS burden in the country.

In the West, such studies have established that dating apps may be leading to a rise in HIV cases among adolescents, but no empirical evidence is available from India yet on whether there is a change in risk behaviour following the use of such dating apps.

Scientists at the National AIDS Research Institute (NARI) under the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said that their discussion with various stakeholders suggested that a large number of men having sex with men and female sex workers may have shifted to dating apps.

“Therefore, we thought this would be an important study to understand the correlation between dating apps and AIDS in India in the changing social scenario that is heavily dependent on technology, mobile phones and internet,” said a senior scientist at NARI.

Email queries sent to Tindr and OkCupid seeking their responses on the proposed study has remained unanswered so far. This copy will be updated when we receive their replies.

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Survey methods being worked out

Dr Amrita P Rao explained that under the current trend, as a large number of people with the highest risk for HIV-AIDS may have shifted to dating apps, it is becoming difficult to get an actual estimation of these populations.

“So, the intention is to develop guidelines for the study so that we are able to map them and get a size estimation and also understand the risk behaviour,” she said.

Rao added that while no method has been field tested yet, the institute was set to launch a large-scale survey as soon as a methodology is worked out.

AIDS number declining since 2000

The National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) estimates that the HIV prevalence trend has been declining in India since the epidemic’s peak in the year 2000 and has been stabilising in recent years.

One of its recent reports said that nationally, there were an estimated 23.48 lakh people living with HIV in 2019.

Maharashtra was estimated to have the highest number of HIV cases, followed by Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Bihar and Gujarat.

The same report also showed that the states of West Bengal, Delhi, Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Haryana accounted for another 18 percent of the total people living with HIV, and overall, 90 percent of the disease burden was from these 15 states.

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Various research studies have shown that prevalence of HIV-AIDS is much higher in men having sex with men in India and female sex workers when compared to other population groups.

‘Need interventions too’

Dr Ishwar Gilada, infectious disease expert and president of the AIDS Society of India, said that while it was a good idea to carry out a survey specifically focusing on the dating apps, its findings should also be utilised adequately.

Various dating apps, he said, are potential enablers of high-risk sex as they help people meet and hook up far more efficiently than ever before.

“Evidence from other countries have shown that government intervention using dating apps is also successful in curbing its spread. Therefore, if it’s established that dating apps have a role in adding to the HIV burden, methods of safe sex should also be promoted through these apps,” he stressed.