Dating apps might be worsening the scenario of AIDS in Bangladesh
Yeakub Ali Shakil :
The virus known as HIV attacks the immune system. It weakens and eliminates white blood cells in human body.
The infection can advance through multiple phases if treatment is not received, which could significantly reduce a person’s quality and lifespan. Without therapy, it may proceed to an advanced stage of HIV or AIDS.
Therefore, in order to increase awareness of HIV/AIDS, December 1stis observed globally as World AIDS Day. Global HIV & AIDS statistics for 2022 show that 39 million persons worldwide were living with HIV, of which 1.3 million were newly infected. It further stated that 6.30 lac persons passed away in 2022 from illnesses linked to AIDS.
Over the past ten years, dating apps have emerged as one of the most popular places to meet new people and start love or sexual interactions. Dating apps give people a simple way to seek new romantic and sexual relationships.
They can be downloaded for free on smartphones and used anywhere, at any time, to rapidly link users with a large number of strangers who are nearby.
Dating app usage increased as the world went online during the pandemic’s peak. For instance, Tinder recorded 300 billion swipes in a single day, OKCupid claimed a 700% increase in dates, and Bumble’s video call function had a 70% rise in usage as of February 2023.
Both the U.S. AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) and the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV blamed Tinder and related apps for a rise in syphilis, gonorrhoea, and chlamydia cases.
Among the demographic that has moved from traditional settings to virtual, hard-to-follow platforms, online dating has surely increased HIV risk.
In 1989, Bangladesh became the first to detect HIV positive cases. It’s frighteningly increasing every year.
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS reports that although the estimated number of HIV-positive individuals in Bangladesh is 14,000. Of the 8,761 cases of AIDS that Bangladesh has reported till date, 1,588 individuals have passed away.
Besides, according to the HIV and AIDS Data Hub for Asia Pacific,818 new patients have been added to the list in 2022. There’s a serious risk that things could go worse very quickly with online dating applications and sites.
According to the Statista 2023, the number of dating apps users is expected to amount to 12.6m users by 2027 in Bangladesh. Tinder, Lovehabibi, Badoo, Similarweb, Mingle2, Dating Buzz Bangladesh, Loveawake and Match.com are popular online dating site and apps in Bangladesh.
Consequently, a UN study hypothesized that dating websites may occasionally have a significant effect in the transmission of STDs.
It further stated that by encouraging more casual sex, dating apps contributed to the HIV epidemic among teenagers in the Asia-Pacific area. In effect, they established networks that allowed infections to proliferate rapidly. A single HIV-positive individual has the potential to impact many lives.
Of the total number of people infected in Bangladesh, 9% belonged to the homosexual community, 7% were male sex workers, 2% were transgender people, and 2% were female sex workers. These people use dating apps and websites frequently.
Consequently, they will soon infect others with this fatal illness. Without realizing the risks involved in utilizing those applications, people may be anxious to find sex with them due to lack of sex education and immature emotions.
Before anything else though, all dating apps and websites should incorporate regulatory pop-up notifications informing users of harmful sexual practices and providing brief recommendations for safer ones.
Furthermore, app makers must to do more to inform users about HIV. Additionally, users should be conscious of the fact that they can find relationships using dating apps. Finally, emotional intelligence, the guts to refuse requests, religious and cultural beliefs, and government monitoring of these apps may reduce the risk. If not, Bangladesh will soon see an HIV epidemic.
(The writer is Lecturer, Department of Business Administration Trust University, Barishal.)