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SAATHII Electronic News Letter
HIV NEWS FROM INDIA

SOURCE: news.webindia123.com, www.bernama.com.my, Business Day (Johannesburg),
Deccan Herald, Express India, Times of India.

Posted on:October 7, 2005.

COMPILED BY: B.Vilasini, Jacob Boopalan and L Ramakrishnan
SAATHII Chennai office

Note: this compilation contains news items about HIV/AIDS
published in the Indian media, as well as articles relevant to
HIV/AIDS in India published internationally. Articles in this
and previous newsletters may also be accessed at
http://www.saathii.org/scroller.html

==============================================================
1. AIDS activists see red over universal symbol
News, Oct 4, 2005.
http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=128408&n_date=20051004&cat=I\
ndia

2. India: Assam Rifles Tells Its Personnel To Carry Condom To Fight AIDS.
Malaysian National News Agency,Oct 5, 2005.
http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news.php?id=159151

3. Developing States 'Must Lobby for HIV Vaccine Research'
Business Day (Johannesburg), Oct 5, 2005.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200510050360.html

4. India on threshold of a pestilential decade
Deccan Herald, Oct 6, 2005.
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/oct62005/index2044502005105.asp

5. No shortage of medicines at AIDS control centres
Express India,Oct 7, 2005.
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=151868

6. Govt gives relief to HIV+ students
Times News Network,OCT,7,2005.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1255413.cms

==============================================================

1. AIDS activists see red over universal symbol
News, Oct 4, 2005.
http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=128408&n_date=20051004&cat=I\
ndia

Bangalore: An AIDS convention in Bangalore has decided to abandon the
red-ribbon
symbol, saying it is discriminatory.Over a HIV-positive people across
the country
attended the two-day convention.The organisers of the convention
claimed that the
red ribbon the, symbol of AIDS and HIV, has created a negative impact
about victims.
"We have decided in the convention to abandon the AIDS symbol, the red
ribbon, which
acts as a negative in our minds. If a HIV person sees the AIDS symbol
red ribbon
we feel like committing suicide," Veena Dhari, an organiser at the
convention said.
Veena Dhari, the first woman in the country to declare her self as a
HIV Positive
person, also said that the convention has decided to give impetus to
the HIV/AIDS
networking across the country."The second thing is the convention has passed a
resolution to increase the HIV networking people across the country," she added.
India accounts for about 5.1 million HIV-positive people, next only to
South Africa.
The northeast has been declared as one of India's high-risk zones with close to
100,000 people infected with HIV.In a recent report the U.S. Central
Intelligence
Agency said if the misinformation and stigma about the disease
continues at the scale
it is now, the number of Indians with HIV could quadruple by 2010. (ANI)
________________________________________________________________________________

2. India: Assam Rifles Tells Its Personnel To Carry Condom To Fight AIDS.
Malaysian National News Agency,Oct 5, 2005.
http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news.php?id=159151

SHILLONG: Facing a new enemy, the Assam Rifles, an Indian paramilitary force,
is readying itself for an all-out war against HIV/AIDS with an unprecedented
strategy -- it has made mandatory for all its personnel to carry a
packet of condoms.
According to the Press Trust of India (PTI) in its report Wednesday, with 133
personnel already infected by the killer HIV/AIDS, this unique directive from
the Assam Rifles' top brass is aimed at saving its rank and file from further
onslaught of the pandemic.Carrying condoms was made compulsory for the
North East
(India) -specific force as the region is vulnerable to the killer
virus for more
than one reasons.With the jawans hailing from all parts of the country and away
from their families for long, the protection would save them from
getting infected.
That the Assam Rifles is combating the menace on a 'war footing' is
evident from
its Director General Lt Gen Bhopinder Singh's action plan.
He minced no words to admit that more jawans were dying because of AIDS than to
direct military action."We accept the menace and do not deny it in the force.
The trend is increasing as the first case was detected way back in 1992 while
the last one only four days back," PTI quoted him as saying.Most jawans were
affected by sexual contact although drug abuse was also a common problem in the
north east," Singh said adding many of the jawans acquire it from
women who take drugs.
The General said since the force was meant for the north-east and
would be staying
in the region only, the menace would have to be fought at any cost.The
170-year-old
paramilitary force created purely to address the security needs of the
region, also
took upon itself to address health, education and social issues
plaguing different
states over the years.Not withstanding the problem at hand, the Assam
Rifles authorities
did not discharge a single HIV-affected soldier from service.On the contrary,
it arranged medical treatment and gave proper counselling, spending Rs
two crore
annually on not only the affected but also other jawans to minimise the damage.
Lt Gen Singh said besides spreading awareness campaign on the HIV/AIDS
among the
jawans to help them fight it, the force was also identifying the "weak areas"
like Dimapur, Tezpur and other transit points and trying to "insulate"
these places.
Recently, an underground outfit of the region issued a press release saying it
was using some HIV-infected women to "neutralise" the security forces.
Describing the menace as a security threat, the DG said the disease
posed a threat
to the economic, human and even traditional notion of security.The
world community
has recognised HIV/AIDS as a security issue in the sense that it challenges
human security, threatens social, political and economic stability as
well as the military.

________________________________________________________________________________

3. Developing States 'Must Lobby for HIV Vaccine Research'
Business Day (Johannesburg), Oct 5, 2005.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200510050360.html

Cape Town: Developing countries with high HIV burdens should lobby
vigorously for
AIDS vaccine research to ensure the quest remained high on the global agenda,
International AIDS Vaccine Initiative president and CEO Dr Seth
Berkeley said at
an international scientific meeting yesterday.Activists in rich countries have
lobbied effectively for extensive research on finding new drugs to
treat HIV, but
costly life-long medication was not necessarily the best solution for
poor countries
with high infection rates, Berkeley said.In the absence of a cure, a
vaccine offered
the best hope of stemming the tide of the HIV epidemic, he
said.Developing countries
such as SA and India, with the highest HIV number of cases in the world, needed
to participate in the hunt to find an effective AIDS vaccine to make
sure products
developed met their needs, he said."If you leave it to someone else,
it may never
happen," said Berkeley, who is attending a scientific meeting in Cape Town under
the banner of the India, Brazil and SA partnership, which strives to strengthen
collaboration between the three countries.The nonprofit AIDS Vaccine Initiative
is one of the world's largest provider of grants for AIDS vaccine research, and
has tested six prospective vaccines in 11 countries since its founding in 1996.
SA had the scientific and financial resources to participate in
vaccine research,
he said, noting that SA ranked behind only Ireland and the US in the
percentage of
gross domestic product (GDP) dedicated to public-sector research in this field.
Last year SA invested between 0,003% and 0,004 % of GDP while the US
and Ireland
invested between 0,004% and 0,005% of GDP, he said.The United Nations estimates
close to 40-million people are infected with HIV, more than 60% of whom live in
sub-saharan Africa.Globally, $650m was being spent on AIDS vaccine research,
said Berkeley, but there was still a funding shortfall of approximately $400m.
Developing countries also needed to bolster their ability to run
vaccine trials,
and to improve their regulatory systems, he said.USA is involved in developing
and testing potential AIDS vaccines under the South African AIDS
Vaccine Initiative.
Berkeley said that it would be at least two or three years before researchers
would know whether the most promising candidate vaccines were effective.
Hopes are currently pinned on prospective vaccines that use a virus to deliver
scraps of HIV to the body's immune system in the hope that it would attack
the full HIV-virus if exposed to it.One of the most promising candidates in this
field was a vaccine developed by pharmaceutical giant Merck that used
an inactivated
adenovirus, which causes the common cold, said Berkeley.Scientists are
also exploring
the possibility of "therapeutic vaccines", which would keep the infection in
check, rather than preventing it.
________________________________________________________________________________

4. India on threshold of a pestilential decade
Deccan Herald, Oct 6, 2005.
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/oct62005/index2044502005105.asp

Geneva:India is likely to experience 60 million deaths during the next
ten years
because of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular problems, cancer, chronic
respiratory illness, diabetes and so on, according to a study released by
the World Health Organisation on Wednesday.Entitled, 'Preventing
Chronic Diseases-
a vital investment,'the WHO says India ranks along with China and Brazil as
the epicentre for chronic diseases — diseases that are largely
stemming from unhealthy diet
and lack of physical activity — in the coming ten years."India has a serious
emerging problem in chronic diseases," JoAnne Epping-Jordan, the co-author of
the study, told Deccan Herald.Out of 388 million deaths from chronic diseases
world over, India will account for over ten per cent, she said. Over 5 million
people are likely to die this year in India from chronic diseases.
In the past, these diseases were treated as the "Western diseases" but now the
emerging giants of globalisation — China, India, Brazil, among others — are the
major victims.One in two of the CVD (cardiovascular)-related deaths in India
occur below the age of 70 years, compared with one in five in well-developed
countries. A big part of the problem for rising cardiovascular and other
non-communicable diseases is the lifestyles of the affluent sections of the
Indian society, with nutrition transition towards diets with a high proportion
of saturated fats, sugar and salt.A Geneva-based health pressure group,
Heart Federation, has warned about the rising deaths in India from
blood pressure
and stroke, which in turn are caused by overweight or obesity.factors such as
tobacco use, inappropriate diet and physical inactivity are responsible for
coronary heart disease.In addition, India is also experiencing a high
death toll
from road accidents, which are expected to increase "147%" by 2020.
Chronic diseases and road accidents are going to be among the major killers in
various parts of the world, particularly India.Besides, India is facing deaths
from HIV/AIDS and TB. TB, which seemed to have got under control in
India, is relapsing
in many cases because of irregular intake of medicines. Whereas
India's HIV/AIDS
population is well over six million and is expected to become the
largest HIV/AIDs
infected country soon.WHO's director general Lee Jong-wook emphasised
that global
health gaps are "unacceptable," and underscored the need to strengthen
the health
care systems. He said many of the current ills plaguing the world, particularly
the poor countries,could be addressed successfully if only national governments
embarked on major prevention programmes.
________________________________________________________________________________

5. No shortage of medicines at AIDS control centres
System streamlined after NACO hands over procurement to professionals,
more ART centres planned.
Express India,Oct 7, 2005.
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=151868

Pune: For the city's AIDS patients, the agonising wait for their prescribed
medicines was harrowing. They won't have to suffer any more. For, just about
anybody whose CD4 count is less than 200 and has full blown AIDS can walk in at
the Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) centre at Sassoon General Hospital and enrol
for the medicines - free of cost.Never mind last year's drugs shortage
and delay
in making the ART centre fully functional. This year, the list of patients has
climbed from a mere 75 in February to 631 in September. Today, 1,112
HIV positive
patients are eligible for the ART programme here.One of the reasons
for the system
being finally streamlined is the National AIDS Control Organisation's (NACO)
decision to hand over procurement and distribution of anti-HIV/AIDS drugs to a
professional agency, Hospital Supply Consultancy Corporation, which will assess
and determine the needs of ART centres.Nagendra Iyer, NACO's
consultant for drugs
procurement, told Pune Newsline from New Delhi, ''We have welcomed
more and more
people to enrol in the ART programme. As a policy we can treat as many people
as possible.'' Iyer, who coordinates with the 33 ART centres in the country for
their medicinal requirements, added that there are plans to upgrade
the programme.
According to the Union Government's ART programme, drugs are to be
provided free
of cost to poor patients infected with HIV. Various criteria were laid down and
initially 25 centres were set up. In Maharashtra, one centre was set
up at J J Hospital
in April last year, after which three more were set up in Pune, Nagpur
and Sangli.
But so far, patients who had enrolled for the programme, were being
subjected to
a long wait due to the delay in setting up the Pune ART centre.
''But now the problem has been met with,'' assures A L Kakrani, head of the ART
centre at Sassoon General Hospital.Iyer said drugs were being procured for
30,000 HIV infected patients across the country. So far, 12,000 patients have
received the drugs. ''We are willing to provide medicines to more.
The process is on to estimate the number of patients and get them
clinically registered,''
he added.Companies like Ranbaxy, Emcure and Cipla, among others,
provide the combination
drugs of Lamuvudine, Stavudine and Nevaripine. But since the
paediatric suspension
hasn't yet been procured from Emcure, child patients are given half the adult
dosage as an interim arrangement.The ART programme is soon going to be upgraded
with the setting up of 100 centres across the country. In Maharashtra,
apart from
three at Mumbai, one at Pune, Nagpur and Sangli, centres will come up at
Aurangabad, Akola, Dhule, Yavatmal and Ambejogai.National AIDS
Research Institute (NARI)
has also started receiving drugs for patients involved in various
projects, Iyer said.
Moreover, the Maharashtra State AIDS Control Society (MSACS) will also provide
drugs to control opportunistic infections like TB, herpes and others.
________________________________________________________________________________

6. Govt gives relief to HIV+ students
Times News Network, OCT,7,2005.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1255413.cms

BANGALORE: Coming to the rescue of over five lakh HIV-infected patients and
their children, the state education department has ruled that no school in
the state shall discriminate against children affected by Human
Immunodeficiency
Virus (HIV).In case of violation, schools could lose affiliation or
face punitive
action. The order, issued by primary and secondary education principal
secretary
T M Vijay Bhaskar, will come into effect from the current academic
year and will
be applicable to all schools . government, aided or unaided."There is
no need for
schools to know about the HIV status of the child at the time of admission.
There should be no discrimination against children affected by HIV or
those whose
parents are HIV-infected," the order says.In order to ensure effective
implementation
of the order, the department has instructed all deputy directors of public
instruction and block education officers to see HIVinfected students
are treated
on par with others.DDPIs and BEOs, will in turn, give necessary
directions to all
school headmasters, about the new order. The government'fs action follows the
story of an eight-year-old girl who was denied admission by Dakshina Kannada
school in August, which was widely reported the media.This, officials say, is
also to prevent any cases of bias against children affected by HIV as the state
is one of the hotbeds of AIDS. Karnataka has the fourth highest number of AIDS
cases in India.The department has also taken up HIV/AIDS education at
government
schools with assistance from the health department. "Based on the information
given by Karnataka State AIDS Prevention Society, we have printed information
about AIDS and HIV in the inside cover pages of some textbooks for
Class and 10,"DSERT director Jagannath Rao said.

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Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in the above articles are those of the respective
newspapers, not those of SAATHII.