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SAATHII Electronic News Letter
HIV NEWS FROM INDIA

SOURCE: www.iol.co.za, The Hindu, The Indian Express,
The Hindustan Times, www.medindia.net, www.starofmysore.com
and The Times of India.

Posted on: 30/06/2006

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. Family disowns son for being gay.
www.iol.co.za, June 25, 2006.
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=86&art_id=qw115124328171B253

2. Comprehensive strategy needed to deal with drugs-HIV:
Governor.
The Hindu, June 26, 2006.
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/004200606261717.htm

3. Dearth of AIDS drugs cripples patients in state.
The Indian Express, June 26, 2006.
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=190107

4. Sex Education Cannot Be Ignored: US Official.
www.medindia.net, June 27, 2006.
http://www.medindia.net/news/view_news_main.asp?x=11749

5. Aiyar contradicts Govt AIDS data.
The Hindustan Times, June 28, 2006.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1730253,0008.htm

6. Human trials of AIDS vaccine begins.
The Hindu, June 28, 2006.
http://www.hindu.com/2006/06/28/stories/2006062819890600.htm

7. Asha Kirana to Provide Free HIV/AIDS Services for City
Police.
www.starofmysore.com, June 28, 2006.
http://www.starofmysore.com/main.asp?type=news&item=9988

8. Campaign against AIDS launched.
The Hindu, June 28, 2006.
http://www.hindu.com/2006/06/28/stories/2006062804471300.htm

9. AIDS cases on the rise in UP.
The Times of India, June 30, 2006.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1690914.cms

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

1. Family disowns son for being gay.
www.iol.co.za, June 25, 2006.
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=86&art_id=qw115124328171B253


New Delhi: The son of a former royal family in India said
Sunday he has been disinherited for admitting he is gay.

Prince Manvendrasinh Gohil belongs to a family which once
ruled the princely state of Rajpipla in the western state of
Gujarat.

"I told my parents I was gay," Gohil told NDTV news channel in
an interview.

"Initially it was difficult for them to accept it. They tried
to convert me to heterosexuality. The doctors told them that
was not possible and I guess they could not deal with the
stigma," he said of his disinheritance.

The Indian Express newspaper said he was publicly disowned by
his parents two days ago after he told a vernacular magazine
that he was gay.

Before then he led a life away from the public eye at the
Rajpipla palace 100km from Vadodara city.

Gohil, who heads a HIV and AIDS programme for the local
government, said he has found support from gay and lesbian
groups in India and abroad, NDTV reported.

"All I want to do is to ensure there is a discussion and
people talk about homosexuality and that we get some sort of
social status," he said.

Gohil added he had no regrets revealing his homosexuality and
bore no grudge against his parents.

Indian laws against homosexuality were originally enacted by
British colonial rulers in 1860. They include up to 10 years'
imprisonment and a fine, or both, for anyone found guilty of
"carnal intercourse against the order of nature".

Although the law is rarely enforced, its existence remains a
source of irritation and anxiety for gays and lesbians in
India.

Indian royals were stripped of their titles and kingdoms in
the 1970s.

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2. Comprehensive strategy needed to deal with drugs-HIV:
Governor.
The Hindu, June 26, 2006.
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/004200606261717.htm


Kohima: Cautioning people about the tremendous cost imposed on
the society due to the spread of HV/AIDS in the northeast,
Nagaland Governor Shyamal Datta today called for adopting a
comprehensive strategy to deal with this challenge.

Calling on NGOs and Government agencies working to rehabilitate
drug addicts and HIV-infected people to share their experience,
Dutta said the current National Aids Control Organisation
(NACO) strategy followed by northeastern states was not
sufficient considering the ground situation.

A more comprehensive plan of action was needed as there was a
direct co-relation between drug abuse and HIV prevalence in
the region, he said.

Speaking at a function to observe the "International Day
against drug abuse and illicit trafficking" here, Dutta said
the drug menace was no more a health-related or enforcement
issue in Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram. It had become a social
issue and "Everyone of us should understand and forsee the
economic cost of it in the days to come when we have limited
resources for development activities", he said.

Sharing their experiences on recovering drug addicts and
counselling in de-addiction centres, NGO workers asked law
enforcing agencies to be more stringent as narcotics are
easily available in Nagaland. They said unless the supply of
drugs is curbed, no amount of effort for demand reduction will
yield positive results.

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

3. Dearth of AIDS drugs cripples patients in state.
The Indian Express, June 26, 2006.
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=190107


Kolkata: Crisis looms large over thousands of AIDS patients in
the state who are under anti-retro viral drugs, courtesy
disruptions in supply by the National Aids Control
Organisation. The shortage has been plaguing hospitals since
February this year when around 100 patients were asked to
purchase medicines on their own. The free ART programme was
initiated in the state a year ago and presently covers over
1000 patients at the School of Tr0pical Medicine.

"The ART drugs are procured and supplied by NACO and there has
been frequent disruptions in their services. We are trying our
best to compensate for the inconvenience and presently none of
the patients suffer. We are trying to make temporary
arrangements. Ideally we should have three to six months'
supply in reserve," said R S Shukla, director of West Bengal
State HIV AIDS Society and special secretary, health
department.

According to the health department, medicines like Efivarenz,
Stavudin and Lamuvudin - combinations of which are used to
treat AIDS patients - are not available.

"Efivarenz stocks have recently been exhausted and stocks of
Stavudin and Lamivudin, a combination of which is used for the
therapy, will last for another week or so. This estimation
takes into consideration our supplies from districts. The
situation is grave," said a health department official.

The problem started in February when 100 patients were asked
to buy drugs from private sector companies and stocks were
finished. The ART, however, cannot be discontinued even for a
single day since that would foster the growth of mutant viral
forms of the disease apart from rendering the patient critical.

The crisis was managed after the WBSAPCS borrowed drugs from
Lucknow, Nagaland, Delhi and Andhra Pradesh, following talks
with NACO.

"We told NACO about the crisis in February but supplies
continued to be disrupted. We were given dates but the
medicines did not reach us on time. We then took loans from
different states as much as 10,000 tablets in a single
consignment to tide over the crisis. Now even those stocks are
exhausted," the official added.

Presently at the School of Tropical Medicines no new patients
are enrolled for the free ART programme and those already
undergoing the treatment have been provided with only two
weeks' medicines. Usually an AIDS patient is furnished with a
month's stock in advance as they are prescribed with an intake
of two tablets daily.

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

4. Sex Education Cannot Be Ignored: US Official.
www.medindia.net, June 27, 2006.
http://www.medindia.net/news/view_news_main.asp?x=11749


India: Providing sex education to youngsters is important to
tackle HIV/AIDS in India, an official of the US Embassy said
today.

Engaging youngsters and giving them leadership in programmes
for prevention and treatment of AIDS was necessary, Micheal
Friedman of Centre for Disease Control of the embassy said at
a conference organised by the Madras Medical Mission.

Clinical commitment, expertise in treatment and quality medical
system were essential for the treatment of HIV/AIDS patients,
he said adding Thailand and Uganda were fighting AIDS
successfully through clinical committment.

Such an approach was also needed in India, he said.

HIV/AIDS could grow to alarming proportions in India, if people
became complacent, thinking vaccines were around the corner. A
vaccine may not be available in the near future, he said.

"The suffering caused by AIDS is like that of cancer, but the
stigma attached to it is more than cancer. Three crore in the
world have died of AIDS and five crore were suffering from the
disease. Thousands of people are dying everyday due to AIDS,"
he said.

He said the life expectancy of people in South Africa had gone
down to less than 40 years due to AIDS. Though the US
Government had sanctioned 15 billion dollars for fighting
HIV/AIDS globally, most of it was spent in African countries.

"India should solve its problems by itself, though others
could provide the techniques and expertise. We are moving in
the right direction, though we have a long way to go" he said.
Dr. R. Lalthanglianga, Mizoram Education and Environment
Minister, were among others who were present.

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

5. Aiyar contradicts Govt AIDS data.
The Hindustan Times, June 28, 2006.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1730253,0008.htm


New Delhi: Union Youth Affairs and Panchayat Raj Minister
Mani Shankar Aiyar courted controversy when he backed UNAIDS
data that says India has the highest number of AIDs cases in
the world. India has officially dismissed the UNAIDS figure
of 5.7 million, sticking to its own figure of 5.206 million
for 2006.

"Though we have more HIV infected patients than any other
country, still 99 per cent of Indians are HIV free," said
Aiyar at the launch of the Youth Unite For Victory on AIDS
programme. In doing so, he contradicted the claims of health
minister Anbumani Ramadoss, who had said he "totally disagreed
with the UNAIDS report".

The UNAIDS 2006 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic released
last month said India had 5.7 million HIV positive people.

Over the past three years, the Indian government has been
recording a plateauing in HIV/AIDS figures -- 5.106 million in
2004; 5.134 million in 2005, and 5.206 million in 2006 -- but
the government has explained it away as success in containing
its spread and the fact that it wasn't factoring in the people
dying of AIDS.

UNAIDS cannot contain its glee. "We are happy that the Indian
government is accepting the figure of 5.7 million," said
UNAIDS country representative Denis Braun.

"We had sent the figure of 5.7 million to the minister
(Ramadoss) in March. May be he didn't get time to go through
the issue at that time or didn't realise its importance," he
said.

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

6. Human trials of AIDS vaccine begins.
The Hindu, June 28, 2006.
http://www.hindu.com/2006/06/28/stories/2006062819890600.htm


Chennai: With the first phase of the AIDS vaccine human trial
being kicked off in the city, scientists involved in the trial
are looking at absorbing more volunteers for the second such
vaccine trial in the country.

The process of fulfilling the requirement of selecting two
groups of 16 volunteers each is on, P.R. Narayanan, Director,
Tuberculosis Research Centre, an Indian Council of Medical
Reaserch body conducting the vaccine trial in Chennai, said
on Tuesday.

TRC collaborates with YRG Care and the International AIDS
Vaccine Initiative on the project, conservatively estimated to
cost at least one million USD.

While some of the volunteers have been administered two (low)
doses of the Modified Vaccine Ankara (MVA), at least 16 more
will have to volunteer to join the study. None of the
volunteers who have received the vaccine has shown any side
effects so far, Dr. Narayanan said.

Ideally, volunteers should be in the age group 18 to 50 years,
healthy, uninfected by the HIV virus and at `low risk' for HIV
infection. They will receive three injections, at the
beginning, one month and six months later. In 18 months, the
period of the first phase, each volunteer will have to visit
the centre 17 times and blood will be drawn from him/her
14 times, Dr. Narayanan explained.

All volunteers will have to pass a test of understanding, based
on the information provided to them about the trial, apart from
satisfying medical criteria.

Mostly, volunteers are recruited through advocacy meets and
sensitisation sessions, individual contacts also yield some
participants.

It is only after a three-level screening process inclusive of
a risk assessment that a volunteer can be recruited.

So far, 16 volunteers have been enrolled. The safety data from
this group will be reviewed by an international safety review
board and when it grants clearance, 16 additional volunteers
will be enrolled to receive a higher dose of the vaccine
candidate.


Fears allayed

Allaying fears that volunteers might contract HIV when injected
with the vaccine, Sunithi Solomon, director, YRG Care, one of
the participants in the trial involving the International AIDS
Vaccine Initiative, said the vaccine contains only a few
genetic components and not the whole virus. "No person will
get HIV through the vaccine.

In addition, following ethical norms set for human trials, the
identity of the volunteer will be kept confidential,"
Dr. Solomon explained.

Further elaborating on this, V.Ramanathan, principal
investigator of the trial, said there will be no pressure on
the volunteers to participate or continue in the trial.

Volunteers who have problems can also seek the counsel of the
independently constituted arbitration board.

"Of course, any volunteer can feel free to walk out of the
trial at any point of time".

Each volunteer will be paid Rs.500 per visit as compensation
for man hours lost, any vaccine-related side effects will be
taken care of and he/she will be provided medical insurance for
the period of the trial for any vaccine unrelated events,
according to a decision taken by the Union Ministry of Health,
Dr.Ramanathan said.

Jean Louis Excler, Senior Director, Medical Affairs, IAVI
India, said the first phase of the vaccine trial being
conducted at National AIDS Research Institute, Pune, would
come to an end this year and the indications so far are that
the vaccine is safe.

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

7. Asha Kirana to Provide Free HIV/AIDS Services for City
Police.
www.starofmysore.com, June 28, 2006.
http://www.starofmysore.com/main.asp?type=news&item=9988


Mysore: Mysore City Police will be provided with free
voluntary counselling and testing services along with inpatient
service for those affected with HIV/AIDS by Asha Kirana
Hospital and Centre for HIV/AIDS Care and Research.

Announcing this after inaugurating a "Sensitisation Workshop"
as part of Suvarana Karnataka, 50 programmes were jointly
organised by Mysore City Police and Asha Kirana at CAR HQ here
on Sunday, Dr. S.N. Mothi, Chairman, Asha Kirana, said that
this is the first time that such a service is being provided
free to the Police in the State. The only other city in India
which has such service for Police is in Mumbai.

"The increasing incidence of HIV/AIDS in the country is a
cause for concern, and with Police in touch with public in
their day-to-day dealing, awareness amongst Police on HIV/AIDS
can bring about a desired change", he said. He complimented the
Mysore Police in recognising the issue and arranging the
workshop on HIV/AIDS.

Shivanna, Deputy Commissioner of Police, CAR, said that under
the leadership of the Police Commissioner Praveen Sood, the
Police force in the city would be sensitised on HIV/AIDS.

"We are working towards an HIV/AIDS free Police force", he
said and added that the State Police is coming with a workplace
policy which would lay down guidelines on maintenance of
privacy and confidentiality of medical reports and
implementation of rehabilitation programmes for those affected
in the Police force.

This joint initiative of Asha Kirana and Mysore City Police is
to ensure the people's right to privacy and dignity of people
living with HIV/AIDS is protected.

Dr. Mahesh Kumar, Vice-Chairman, Asha Kiran, Guru Raja,
Trustee, Asha Kirana, Kittur, ACP, CAR, Agadi, ACP, CAR,
Dr. Srinivas and Pramodh from Asha Kirana were present.

Dr. Swamy, Renuka, Shalini and Savitha from Asha Kirana
conducted the full-day workshop. Constable Mahadev with his
own lyrics and music rendered a song on HIV/AIDS, which is
being considered as a theme song.

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

8. Campaign against AIDS launched.
The Hindu, June 28, 2006.
http://www.hindu.com/2006/06/28/stories/2006062804471300.htm


New Delhi: "Youth take charge!" This was the clarion call
given by the Government as Vice-President Bhairon Singh
Shekhawat launched YUVA (Youth Unite for Victory on AIDS) here
on Tuesday. The HIV/AIDS epidemic has been the "most serious
public health problem faced by the country since independence".

A joint endeavour by the National AIDS Control Organisation and
the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, YUVA is a
five-year plan and action agenda aimed at reaching out to
adolescents and youth across the country to ensure that by
2010 all young people have accurate information, skills and
access to HIV prevention services and facilities in a
conducive, safe and supportive environment.

In his inaugural address, the Vice-President said the speed
with which HIV/AIDS assumed epidemic proportions should wake
up policy planners and public health administrators to do some `
out-of-the-box' thinking to evolve innovative and effective
measures to control its spread.

Calling for mission-mode effort to generate awareness of
HIV/AIDS as prevention is key to dealing with the epidemic,
Mr. Shekhawat said special attention should be paid to the
26 crore people living below the poverty line. As they suffered
from deprivation, disease and illiteracy, they could be the
soft targets of infection for, nutritional deficiencies
hastened the onset of AIDS and its progression.

Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Mani Shankar Aiyar said
greater awareness of the disease could be generated through a
frank and debate.

The YUVA campaign will be conducted by eight youth
organisations having a collective membership of over 2.2 crore.

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

9. AIDS cases on the rise in UP.
The Times of India, June 30, 2006.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1690914.cms


Lucknow: Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) could no
more be a mere bogey in Uttar Pradesh. The spiralling graph of
the deadly virus in the state is causing anxiety among the
medical fraternity.

The cases, as per official records, have touched a new high
beginning 2005 — by literally doubling up in one year. Going
by the steep rise reported from January to March 2006, the
situation is poised to be grimmer still.

The state reported 762 AIDS cases in 2005, as against 375
registered in 2004. As the number reported in three months
from January to March this year is 219 already, 2006 could
turn out to be just as bleak.

While the figures per se may not be alarming, the fact that
the cases have shown an spurt of 103.20 per cent in one
single year, has given rise to a nagging fear among experts.

Already the UNAID report on Global AIDS Epidemic Research had
claimed that the number of AIDS victims in India could be
5.7 million. With a population growth rate of 2.5 per cent,
UP is defined by NACO "as a low prevalence but high vulnerable
state".

The state, experts fear, could be a classic case of under
reporting with it's high incidence of poverty, gender
disparity and low literacy. Bloating figures, therefore,
deserve urgent attention, they point out.

Talking to TOI, Dr AK Tripathi, professor of medicine and
nodal officer Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) Centre, King George
Medical University, admitted, "in past one year, attendance in
ART centre (one of three in the state) has doubled".

In fact, since August 2005, 438 patients have visited the
centre. The heavy inflow could also be due to distribution of
free medicines provided under a NACO programme, Tripathi said.
But a serious probe needs to be undertaken to find out the
reason behind the growing graph, he added.

He quotes a recent study published in Lancet in March which
claimed that while HIV is on the wane in the worst hit pockets
in southern states, situation in northern states poses a major
challenge.

The UPSACS authorities, however, attribute the growing figures
to better awareness and monitoring facilities. "We have
recently opened 13 test centres leading to identification of
those who were earlier not traced," said Dr RP Mathur, Joint
Director, UPSACS. This, he said was a positive sign and there
was no need for an alarm.

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