**********************************************************
SAATHII Electronic News Letter
HIV NEWS FROM INDIA

SOURCE: dnaindia.com, www.telegraphindia.com, The Times of India, The Hindu,
www.deccanherald.com, news.webindia123.com, The Indian Express and
www.kanglaonline.com.

Posted on: 06/03/2006

COMPILED BY: B.Vilasini 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/orc/elibrary

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

1. Plumping for one healthy nation.
dnaindia.com, March 01, 2006.
http://dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1015528

2. Trekking with a mission.
www.telegraphindia.com, March 01, 2006.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060302/asp/jamshedpur/story_5908538.asp

3. Father fantastic.
The Times of India, March 01, 2006.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1434606.cms

4. India, US commit themselves to combating HIV/AIDS.
The Hindu, March 02, 2006.
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200603021763.htm

5. Health workers invade motels, highway hotels to contain AIDS.
www.deccanherald.com, March 03, 2006.
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/mar32006/update61853200633.asp

6. Awareness needed to check HIV/AIDS in India : UNAIDS.
news.webindia123.com, March 03, 2006.
http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=266969&cat=Health

7. Short supply of ART worsens condition of city AIDS patients.
The Indian Express, March 04, 2006.
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=172409

8. HIV/AIDS media award winners felicitated.
www.kanglaonline.com, March 05, 2006.
http://www.kanglaonline.com/index.php?template=headline&newsid=30130&typeid=1

9. Jahnabi Goswami set to take on Mahanta.
The Indian Express, March 05, 2006.
http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=89056

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

1. Plumping for one healthy nation.
dnaindia.com, March 01, 2006.
http://dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1015528


Mumbai: Health gets the second-highest priority in P Chidabaram's budget plan
as the allocation in this sector is enhanced by 22%. An amount of
Rs 12,546 crores has been set for this sector out of which Rs 8,207 crores is
alone for the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), the UPA government's
flagship programme.

That's a substantial rise from last year's Rs 6,553 crore. NHRM will now
incorporate other programmes like national disease control programme,
reproductive and child health projects, routine immunisation, population
control programmes besides NACO's condom distribution programme.

"I am confident that in 2006-07 more than 200,000 associated social health
activists will be fully functional and over 1,000 block-level community health
centres will provide round the clock services," Chidambaram said.

NRHM aims to fill the gaps in rural health care by creating 2.5 lakh activists
to assist the anganwadis etc at the village level. They will be vital in
making health services accessible to the rural people.

More than 2000 health centres will be upgraded to the level of Indian Public
Health Standard (IPHS) and a district health management system for about
235 districts will be created. Giving concessions on vital drugs, the
government has cut down customs duty on 10 anti-AIDS and 14 anti-cancer
drugs to 5%.

Duty on certain life-saving drugs, kits and equipment has also been reduced
from 15% to 5%. These drugs will also be exempt from excise duty and
countervailing duty. Since the country had by December 2005 reached the goal
of eliminating leprosy, the focus will now be on Polio. In order to boost the
Pulse Polio programme in an aggressive way, Rs 1,004 crores has been earmarked
as against last year's Rs 806.83 crores.

"Continuing the vigorous immunisation programme, we expect to eliminate polio,
too, from the country by December, 2007," Chidambaram said. Health care being
one of the seven thrust areas under the National Common Minimum Programme, the
government will step up public investment in programmes to control major
communicable and non-communicable diseases through the National Disease
Control Programme.

Keeping in mind the threats from communicable diseases like avian flu, there
has been an increase in National Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme. As
much as Rs 90 crores has been set aside just to strengthen a surveillance
system where an outbreak can be detected early and rapid response be initiated.

As country's war against HIV/AIDS gathers momentum, the AIDS control
programmes gets a boost with the allocation of National AIDS Control
Organisation going up from Rs 476.50 crores to Rs 636.67 crores. The
allocations for setting up six AIIMS like institutions has been cut down
drastically as out of about Rs 250 crores only Rs 6 crores have been utilised
so far. For the new financial year, Chidambaram has allocated Rs 75 crores
in this regard.

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

2. Trekking with a mission.
www.telegraphindia.com, March 01, 2006.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060302/asp/jamshedpur/story_5908538.asp


Jamshedpur: It's certainly going to be an expedition with a difference as some
students from XLRI plan to break away from corporate fundas to trek the
enchanting Himalayas with a mission to spread AIDS awareness.

Come March 13, when the final-year students from XLRI will embark on a
"journey" to the Mount Everest Base Camp they would do much more than just
scaling the mammoth heights.

Titled the XLRI Leadership Expedition (XLE2006), the graduating batch of the
premier B-school has decided to make it a memorable journey. In one of its
most unique endeavour, XLRI has tied up with CARE India, a national-level NGO,
and has taken on a mission to spread AIDS awareness along their way. "This
year, XLRI Leadership Expedition is working to generate AIDS awareness. This
objective is being met through a partnership with CARE," said an XLRI student.

The team of about 20 adventure enthusiasts would start the campaign from
Calcutta on March 13 and are expected to be back by the end of the month. The
students would reach out to some rural areas and would later take it to seven
villages in Nepal. "The students will talk to groups of people, have short
street plays and distribute condoms," said R. Bhargava, a second-year student.
"This tie-up with XLRI is part of our urban chayan project, which aims to
spread awareness among youths within the age group of 16 to 24," said
Rama Khanna, training coordinator at CARE India, Jharkhand chapter.

The students for the expedition were trained by the CARE volunteers about a
month ago which included everything from sensitisation programmes to picking
up a few tips on street theatre.

But the mission with a cause does not end there, XLRI has made an arrangement
for an online quiz for school and college students to spread the message
across the world on its website www.xlnatureclub.com.

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

3. Father fantastic.
The Times of India, March 01, 2006.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1434606.cms


New Delhi: Fr Emmanuel is a Catholic priest who has produced a Bollywood movie,
with a 'mild item number'! He is not your usual priest who would squirm at
the mere mention of the words sex, sleaze and drugs. Meet Fr Dominic Emmanuel
of Delhi Catholic Archdiocese, whose forte is communication with the youth
through mediums that the GenX prefer.

His objective? To educate the youth to leave high-risk behaviours that could
infect them with HIV virus. With this aim in mind, the priest has gone where
no one from the church has gone before - he has produced a Bollywood film,
complete with a "mild item number", to convey the church's twin message of
sexual abstinence and communal harmony.

"This is the first time that a church has produced a full-fledged commercial
feature film anywhere in the world," he says. But this unlikely alliance
between the church and Bollywood has surprised many. The Father defends,
"Aisa Kyon Hota Hai doesn't have any explicit scenes, and it's quite different
from the typical Bollywood pot boiler.

It's wrong to cast the entire celluloid medium as crass commercialisation.
A knife in the hands of a killer is dangerous, but the same knife can be used
for removing a tumour by a surgeon".

According to him, making the film was the most ascetic experience he has had
in years. "I travelled in a city bus, spent sleepless nights, coordinated with
actors and rehearsed for my role as the principal of a Catholic college in the
film," he says.

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4. India, US commit themselves to combating HIV/AIDS.
The Hindu, March 02, 2006.
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200603021763.htm


New Delhi: Underlining the need to combat dreaded HIV/AIDS, India and the US
today committed themselves to exploring all possible avenues, including
expediting drug approval process at USFDA and strengthening bilateral
cooperation, to fight the disease globally.

In view of the fast spread of HIV/AIDS, the two nations decided to encourage
corporate participation to boost the battle against the disease and announced
setting up a joint Indo-US corporate fund to fight the menace, the Indo-US
Joint statement said.

They agreed to strengthening Virtual Coordination and Information Centres set
up last year and hold a bilateral meeting soon to develop a practical
programme for utilisation of its services, the joint statement issued after
talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and US President George W Bush,
said. Bush has also announced a contribution of seven million dollars towards
the Indo-US Corporate Fund for HIV/AIDS. It would be managed by GIVE
Foundation and ICICI Bank, it said.

The two sides expressed satisfaction at the expedited United States Food and
Drug Administration drugs approval processes to strengthen the fight against
HIV/AIDS.

Resolving to work together to address the concerns on avian influenza, they
decided to reach out to the private sector for their participation to fight
diseases that adversely impact the economic growth and agreed to plan an
in-region containment and response exercise.

The two sides have agreed to expand bilateral efforts and continue cooperation
in the area of medical research and strengthening technical capacity in food
and drug regulation in India. The US President also lauded India's offer to
host the International Partnership on Avain Pandemic Influenza meeting
next year.

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

5. Health workers invade motels, highway hotels to contain AIDS.
www.deccanherald.com, March 03, 2006.
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/mar32006/update61853200633.asp


Kolkata: For the first time in the country health workers, aiming to attack
the AIDS scourge at its roots are invading motels and highway hotels to
counsel and treat floating commercial sex workers.

The novel programme, officially branded 'intervention among flying sex workers
in tourist areas', has begun targetting high risk zones on the outskirts of
Kolkata which such women and not-so-aware budget tourists frequent.

With the setting up of the first Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) clinic
inside a hotel in the fast growing suburb of Pailan and another in the
Kalibazar brothel off Diamond Harbour this week, health workers are hopeful of
getting visible results.

"More such hotels and resorts in the remote tourist areas will be brought
under the intervention programme soon. We hope to create a chain wherein all
flying sex workers are covered and the virus is controlled among this high
risk group," says West Bengal health services joint director S K Ojha.

The project, funded by NACO and implemented by the West Bengal State AIDS
Prevention and Control Society (WBSAPCS) along with local NGOs, will set up
clinics to provide free medicine and condoms, voluntary testing and
counselling and care and support for HIV positive tourists as well as those
with opportunistic infections. (Moe and Research Centre, which manages the
first two clinics.

Ranjit, whose NGO has been working as a partner with WBSAPCS for the last
17 years, says the definition of flying sex workers needed revision since
these small hotels also attracted many multi-sex partners, who pose a
problem for intervention programmes due to their high promiscuity.

Though a low prevalence state, West Bengal reported 2397 cases of AIDS out of
the national burden of 1,03,857 in 2005, according to NACO estimates.

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

6. Awareness needed to check HIV/AIDS in India : UNAIDS.
news.webindia123.com, March 03, 2006.
http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=266969&cat=Health


New Delhi: With women accounting for an estimated 40 per cent of all HIV
infections in India, UNAIDS today asserted that awareness, especially among
young women and girls more susceptible to the virus, was urgently required as
a timely preventive measure.

''India has the right laws, policies and money...but implementation is an
issue which needs to be addressed. Awareness is required at all levels to
check HIV/AIDS,'' UNAIDS Country Coordinator Denis Broun told a news
conference on the eve of International Women's Day.

He said there was a rise of HIV infection among women and girls in the age
group of 15 and 24. ''The need of the hour is to reach out to young women
living in extremely difficult and marginal circumstances,'' he said.

''Women are more prone to the infection...a significant proportion of new
infections occur in married women, many of who are infected by their husbands,
who frequently visit sex workers,'' he explained.

He said more the 90 per cent of women, who tested positive were monogamous,
with no other sexual partner than their husbands, were less than 30 years old.
According to figures by CHARCA, a joint UN project on Reducing Women's
Vulnerability to HIV/AIDS, there has been an increase in death toll due to
early marriages among young girls.

Around 30 per cent girls are married before they are 15 while the another
62 per cent before they turn 18. Pointing out that intravenous drug users also
added to the swelling numbers, Mr Broun said many addicts and their partners
may resort to commercial sex work to sustain their habit, doubling their risk
to get infected.

''About 20 per cent female sex workers in Manipur inject drugs,'' he added.
Mr Broun said the situation was difficult but he was optimistic that India
will be able to reverse the trend like Taiwan. UNIFEM Women's Human Rights
chief Archana Tamang said social condition of women also added to their
vulnerability.

''An overwhelming majority of women are subordinate in their relationships
with men and unable to negotiate safe sexual practices even when they are
aware about the partners high-risk behaviour,'' she added.

She said "stigma and discrimination adversely affected the livelihood options,
education and living of infected women". In Manipur, Andhra Pradesh and
Tamil Nadu HIV prevalence is very high, she added. ''In Tamil Nadu about
50 per cent female sex workers have been found HIV positive,'' she revealed.

In a bid to create awareness, particularly among the women in age group of
13 to 25, CHARCA, UNAIDS, UNIFEM in partnership with the Ministry of Women
and Child Development and National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) have
organised a national event on the eve of International Women's Day on March 7.
An awareness campaign 'Commitment to Protect the Young and Vulnerable' will
be launched at the event where musicians will perform.

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

7. Short supply of ART worsens condition of city AIDS patients.
The Indian Express, March 04, 2006.
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=172409

Kolkata: Bela Roy (name changed), an HIV positive patient, knows the certainty
of death. She is prepared for the inevitable, though this is not what she had
bargained for.

For the past one month, her condition is growing critical by the
hour — bed-ridden with a splitting headache, diahrroea, high fever and other
symptoms of AIDS.

But Bela is just one among the 120 AIDS patients in the state, including five
children, for whom the anti-retroviral therapy (ART) drugs given by the
National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) has suddenly been stopped. She was
receiving her daily dose of ART from Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine, but
in the first week of February, doctors told her that she would not get the
doses any more. Nearly 1,000 patients may share her fate in a matter of weeks.

The free ART was part of National Priority Health Programme announced by
Union Government in December 2003, and started in April 2004 in six high
HIV/AIDS prevalent states. The programme was later extended to other states,
including West Bengal, and was initiated here at the School of Tropical
Medicine on March 29, 2005.

"They told us that they have no stock and I have to buy it from outside. Why
did they start giving the medicine in the first place if they want to stop it
now? I do not have the money to buy it from retail outlets. Besides, the drugs
are not always available," said Bela, who got infected by the virus from her
husband who died two years ago.

"I was told before that the medicine was not to be discontinued, even for a
day. But now it has been weeks since I had them," Bela, bed-ridden at her
house in Shovabazar, added.

"The ART drugs need strict adherence and they are to be taken daily. Missing
the doses for a couple of days increases the progression of the disease. The
patient also develops mutant forms of the disease and develops resistance to
it. Then there is a chance for such mutant forms to spread in the community.
Once started, the drugs should not be discontinued," said Dr Subhashis Guha,
Associate Professor, School of Tropical Medicine.

The Bengal Network for Positives, the largest network of people living with
HIV and AIDS in the state, have expressed serious concern regarding the issue
and stated that if the situation continues they will embark on mass agitation.

"Majority of people like us are poor, and many of us have lost their means of
livelihood, driven out of their homes after they were infected. Moreover, the
drugs are very costly. The free ART programme was initiated by the Central
Government keeping in mind these factors. It is inhuman and unethical to stop
the supply," said Tarit Chakraborty, president of Bengal Network for Positives.


Who all are affected

The HIV-positive pregnant women who access government anti-natal clinics
HIV-positive children up to 15 years of age. Adults with full-blown AIDS who
go to government hospitals for treatment.

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

8. HIV/AIDS media award winners felicitated.
www.kanglaonline.com, March 05, 2006.
http://www.kanglaonline.com/index.php?template=headline&newsid=30130&typeid=1


Imphal: The Manipur Network of Positive People and Media Committee on HIV/AIDS
felicitated Akoijam Sunita, journalist of the Imphal Free Press and
RK Robindro Singh, documentary film maker of the DDK Imphal, recipients of the
media initiative awards sponsored by the government of India and
European Union today.

The two are amongst six Indians selected for undergoing a training on HIV/AIDS
related issues at London, United Kingdom later this year. It may be mentioned,
Sunita was chosen for the award for her writings on issues related to
HIV/AIDS, specifically for an article titled `who will keep the promise` in
which she made an attempt to examine the role of good governance in the
treatment of HIV/AIDS.

RK Robindro, on the other hand, was chosen for his deep personal look at a
VCTC through the eyes of an HIV counsellor with the production of a
documentary film titled `Lite Thy Lite` which was broadcast by the DDK Imphal.

The felicitation function was graced by retired Professor L Damodar,
Abiram Mongjam, state coordinator, Population Foundation of India and
Bijoy Kakchingtabam, president AMWJU as chief guest, guest of honour and
president respectively.

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

9. Jahnabi Goswami set to take on Mahanta.
The Indian Express, March 05, 2006.
http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=89056


Guwahati: Jahnabi Goswami, the first woman in Northeast India to have
declared herself as HIV+, has hit the headlines again: she has joined the
Congress party and will be contesting the Assembly elections in Assam. And
she will have at least one major distinction as she does this—she will be the
first HIV+ person in the country to join electoral politics. If elected, she
will become the first HIV+ law-maker in all of South Asia. To achieve that,
however, she will have to defeat none other than two-time Assam Chief Minister
Prafulla Kumar Mahanta in his constituency Barhampur in central Assam's
Nagaon district.

''I have joined politics and decided to contest the elections for two reasons.
One, most people think we, the people living with AIDS, are outcasts. They do
not want to consider us equal members of society. And two, to get things done
for people living with AIDS. To mount a bigger social campaign against it, you
need to be part of the decision-making process,'' Jahnabi (30) told The Indian
Express here today. She had joined the Congress party at Nagaon yesterday, and
has also submitted her application seeking a party ticket from the
Barhampur LAC.

Jahnabi, married in 1994 at the age of 18, had contracted AIDS from her
husband who apparently already had the disease, a fact that was not revealed
to her before the marriage. Blamed later and forced to leave the house as
though she were the ''culprit'', Jahnabi managed to fight back, and is today
a leading light of the AIDS campaign across the sub-continent. Today the
Vice President of the Indian Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (INP),
Jahnabi is also the president of the INP Assam chapter.

On her choosing to join the Congress party, Jahnabi said it was a family
tradition to be with the party. Her grandfather, Lakhiprasad Goswami, was a
freedom fighter and later a minister, while her father was a Congress
district-level leader. In the mid-1990s, her uncle, Nripen Goswami, was a
Congress Lok Sabha member.

''The Congress is in my blood—when I used to attend party meetings as a child,
I would dream of becoming a leader,'' Jahnabi said. With the Congress looking
for a good candidate to take on Mahanta at Barhampur, Jahnabi seemed to be the
person for the job. ''Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi called me up several times
and asked me to join,'' she said, recalling how Gogoi had also got her a free
government accommodation in Guwahati two years ago, after several landlords
refused to rent her a house.

Jahnabi's HIV+ positive status and her leadership skills have already made her
a globe-trotter. ''It is amazing to find how people and communities across the
globe have responded to the menace of AIDS. But India still has a long way to
go. For that we need more HIV+ people in decision-making forums including
Parliament,'' she said.

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