“Allah will decide my life and death”: Religion and spirituality among populations at risk for HIV in Malaysia

ABSTRACT

We examined the influence of religion and spirituality on HIV risk contexts through in-depth interviews with men who have sex with men (n = 10) and female commercial sex workers (n = 10) in Malaysia. Using a grounded theory approach, five themes emerged from the interviews: (a) religion encourages caring for health, (b) health is influenced by a higher power, (c) prayer is a conduit to health assistance, (d) stigma is compounded by religion but it does not limit one’s spirituality, and (e) religion is not but should be incorporated into HIV campaigns. Incorporation of spirituality in service provision and addressing stigma is warranted.

KEYWORDS:

• religion
• spirituality
• Malaysia
• HIV/AIDS
• stigma

Acknowledgments

We appreciate the time and willingness of participants to share their experiences and views. We also wish to acknowledge NGOs’ Pertubuhan Pembangunan Kebajikan dan Persekitaran Positif Malaysia (SEED) and PT Foundation (formerly Pink Triangle Sdn. Bhd.) who assisted with study recruitment and reflection on study implications.

Notes

1. Some participants utilized the titles of God and Allah interchangeably.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Centre of Excellence for Research in AIDS at the University of Malaya under grant number: UMRG-RP009.