**********************************************************

SAATHII Electronic Newsletter
HIV NEWS FROM INDIA

Source: http://www.domain-b.com, http://thewip.net,
http://www.alertnet.org, Citizen Matters, The Hindu, GK News Network,
Press Trust of India, Express News service, AFP, Taiwan News

Posted on: 29/11/2008

COMPILED BY: Anchit Goel (New Delhi) and L. Ramakrishnan (Chennai)

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.

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

1. NACO pulled up for substandard HIV kits in country
Press Trust of India, November 23, 2008
http://www.ptinews.com/pti%5Cptisite.nsf/0/7FD4E217C35E30266525750A004946E8?Open\
Document

2. HIV/AIDS in India: Narrow Focus, Inflated Projections & Poverty
http://thewip.net, November 24, 2008
http://thewip.net/contributors/2008/11/hivaids_in_india_narrow_focus.html

3. Never feel intimidated (Pune, Maharashtra)
Sakaal Times, November 25, 2008
http://www.sakaaltimes.com/2008/11/25152228/Never-feel-intimidated.html

4. Cricketers to meet HIV affected people (Dubai)
The Hindu, November 26, 2008
http://www.hindu.com/2008/11/26/stories/2008112652921900.htm

5. Meet on adolescent education an eye-opener (Ulsoor, Karnataka)
Citizen Matters, Bangalore, November 26, 2008
http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/articles/view/632-sex-education-schools

6. INDIA: Women taught to talk about AIDS
http://www.alertnet.org, November 26, 2008
http://www.alertnet.org/db/blogs/55267/2008/10/26-143459-1.htm

7. AIDS by tears? - In India, Malteser International works for HIV
prevention and against discrimination of people living with HIV/AIDS
http://www.alertnet.org, November 27, 2008
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/332065/122779441969.htm

8. 'JK has low AIDS prevalence'
GK News Network, November 28, 2008
http://www.greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=29_11_2008&ItemID=50&cat=6

9. More cash needed to help care for Indians with HIV
AFP, November 28, 2008
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5go6f4rE1ZNbQJZolWslzZu6WMEMg

10. HIV/AIDS signature campaign at Students' Centre (Chandigarh)
Express news service, November 28, 2008
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/hiv-aids-signature-campaign-at-students-\
centre/391706/

11. AIDS awareness workshop for cops in Mohali
Express news service, November 28, 2008
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/aids-awareness-workshop-for-cops-in-moha\
li/391703/

12. India's hijras spread safe sex message in life or death AIDS fight
Taiwan News, November 28, 2008
http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=798905&lang=eng_news

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

1. NACO pulled up for substandard HIV kits in country
Press Trust of India, November 23, 2008
http://www.ptinews.com/pti%5Cptisite.nsf/0/7FD4E217C35E30266525750A004946E8?Open\
Document

New Delhi, Nov 23 (PTI) Ten months after the World Bank published a
report alleging rampant fraud and corruption in Indian healthcare
projects including supply of sub-standard HIV testing kits, the
Central Information Commission (CIC) has pulled up the National AIDS
Control Organisation (NACO) in connection with the charges. NACO will
now have to explain the "factual position" with regards to the
allegations of sub-standard HIV diagnostic kits supplied by a private
player and documents related to investigations by World Bank in the
matter.

The CIC issued a show cause notice to NACO, the nodal agency handling
HIV control strategies and their implementation in the country, asking
it to explain why the maximum fine of Rs 25,000 should not be slapped
on the organisation for withholding requisite information when
demanded. Hearing the petition of R Venkataraman, who sought all the
documents of related investigations in the matter from NACO, the CIC
directed the organisation "to provide the appellant with the DIR
report of the World Bank along with the factual position with regard
to HIV Kits in India and NACO's recommendations based on the World
Bank report".

In January 2008, the World Bank published a report showing rampant
fraud and corruption in Indian healthcare projects including supply of
sub-standard HIV testing kits. Appellant Venkataraman stated before
commission that both World Bank and NACO were involved with the
investigation of complaints against the sub-standard kits and pleaded
to provide him the same. Information Commissioner Annapurna Dixit
observed, "This information is being sought very clearly in public
interest as cited by the appellant and therefore believes that it has
every reason for overriding any apprehension which the Public
Authority may have on its disclosure." PTI

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

2. HIV/AIDS in India: Narrow Focus, Inflated Projections & Poverty
http://thewip.net, November 24, 2008
http://thewip.net/contributors/2008/11/hivaids_in_india_narrow_focus.html

by Rupa Chinai

On August 5, 2008 a young 'HIV-positive' couple in Mumbai - Babu
Ishwar Thevar, 39, his wife Amothi, 33 - committed suicide after
killing their three children, sons Venkatesh and Mani, ages 10 and 8,
and daughter Mahalaxmi, 6. They had just discovered that their
youngest child too 'was infected by the deadly virus.' The stigma of
AIDS has taken many lives long before the disease itself claimed them,
but the extent of such suicides, and the reasons behind them, have
rarely come to public knowledge. AIDS has a critical link to the
immune system and the factors that influence it. Society's limited
understanding of this disease is causing innocent people to pay a
terrible price.

At a time when we do not have a cure for AIDS, we cannot assume to
know its cause. Increasingly across the world, there are voices
questioning the perpetuation of a 'Frankenstein that has been blown
out of all proportion.' They question the narrow approach to a single
disease, especially the huge financing for AIDS over all else in basic
health care. Though welcome and long overdue, this debate must now
move further. Our approach to this disease needs to change for the
sake of families like that of Babu and Amothi Thevar.

Narrow Focus

In 1993, I was one of the first health correspondents in India to
serve on the staff of a leading daily English language newspaper. I
had just completed a journalist fellowship at the Harvard School of
Public Health in Boston, and came back deeply influenced by teachers
such as the late Dr. Jonathan Mann, a public health expert with
renowned international experience. He believed that the discovery of a
new disease like AIDS was an opportunity to scrutinize fundamental
issues - such as the link between disease and poverty, the need to
examine the workings of the entire health system, access to preventive
health information and the means to support health in all its
physical, mental and social dimensions.

Based in Mumbai, I witnessed the unfolding of the 'HIV/AIDS epidemic'
in what was dubbed the 'AIDS capital of India' and extensively
reported on it over the course of a decade. At that time, the medical
community shunned treatment of this disease. As a result, patients
were in the stranglehold of a small mafia of doctors who took every
opportunity to fleece, frighten and even conduct illegal vaccine
trials on their patients. Denied any support, the patients believed
that HIV meant death. Mercifully, that stranglehold was subsequently
broken when heightened international focus widened the circle of
medical practitioners and NGOs.

One of the few but important gains of the focus on AIDS in India has
been the emergence of some genuine community-based groups for the
first time in public health. Many of them provide an interface between
marginalized groups, the wider community and public health services.
This process empowers those who were previously voiceless and ignored,
and who must continue to receive priority support. This success
however, is marginal in comparison to the enormous havoc this narrow
and ill-conceived focus on HIV/AIDS has rendered to India's public
health system. There is an urgent need to expand the treatment to a
comprehensive, primary based approach ñ one that takes into account
the total health needs of communities in developing countries that
cope with an already enormous burden from other killer diseases.

Inflated Projections

Contributing to this climate of fear and myopic focus were the myths
perpetuated ñ in particular, AIDS fatality figures were severely
inflated. The past two decades have seen warnings about the huge
numbers of HIV/AIDS infected persons who would 'die like flies.' The
projections, provided in particular by the CIA, UNAIDS and the WHO,
ranged from five to twenty million estimated cases in India alone.
Local and international groups that questioned the high numbers faced
severe criticism and marginalization.

Ultimately, the skeptics proved right. The AIDS lobby has since
backtracked on its pronouncements without acknowledging the extent to
which they have misled the public. UNAIDS has now reduced world HIV
estimates from 39.5 million to 33.3 million but still calls for
dramatically increased AIDS spending ñ from $9 million today to $42
billion by 2010 and $54 billion by 2015.

A report by India's National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3), tabled
with the Indian government in 2007, was the first to provide data on
what is happening at the general community level and it forced
international agencies to scale down their figures. Estimates of
India's HIV/AIDS prevalence are now 2.5 million, a significant
decrease from the earlier Indian government estimate of over five
million infected.

While HIV causes only 3.7 percent of global mortality, it receives 25
percent of all health aid. Additionally, it receives a large portion
of domestic expenditure, which often exceeds domestic health budgets,
says Robert England, chairperson of the Health Systems Workshop, an
independent think-tank promoting comprehensive primary health systems
reform in developing countries.

It is important to analyze how these high projections came about in
the first place, and to ask how those in positions of authority
accepted these figures without asking the basic questions voiced
within the community. It is vital to know what is happening on the
ground and discover for ourselves India's true experience with this
disease.

Poverty & Malnutrition

During a 2008 media workshop with Asian and African journalists in
Geneva, the World Health Organization placed blame for the flawed
fatality projections on the home countries. 'The WHO has no mechanism
for monitoring numbers and its estimates depended on the data supplied
by the Indian government,' held the WHO's team leader for corporate
communications. Policymakers in Delhi and Washington had applied
universal yardsticks without examining local geographical and cultural
traditions of health-seeking behavior in developing countries.

India's HIV/AIDS surveillance system drew samples from the following
sources within public sector institutions: Clinics for antenatal
mothers; STD (Sexually Transmitted Diseases) treatment centers; blood
banks; and NGO groups catering to the needs of 'men who have sex with
men' (MSM), commercial sex workers and their clients.

The problem with samples taken from these sources is that these
segments of society do not represent the general population - they
represent high-risk groups. While pregnant women attending antenatal
clinics in public hospitals would come from the general population,
they still represent the lower socio-economic strata of society. The
picture they show does not portray the total image with its manifold
nuances.

Typical patients who seek the services of the urban public sector in
India are migrants who come to the cities and live in stressful
conditions. They suffer from malnutrition and carry a heavy burden of
disease that has compromised their immune systems. If they were to
undergo an HIV test, it is likely that it would show a false positive
result because of a cross-reaction due to the presence of other
infections commonly found in developing countries.

Data drawn from the public sector connects with another Indian
peculiarity. Studies have revealed that 70 percent of Indians turn
first to the private sector when they suffer from a health problem.
They do so because the primary health service offered by the
government sector is neglected and in shambles. It is only when they
run out of money or suffer the consequences of wrong diagnoses that
patients turn to public sector hospitals, resulting in the
over-running of referral services by patients suffering from minor
problems.

Thus, key information missing in the HIV/AIDS surveillance systems is
comparative data drawn from the private sector services, which covers
the majority of India's population. The class of people who come here
are better nourished and healthy. HIV testing done on them may
demonstrate different results.

Such comparative data is readily available with all leading private
hospitals in Mumbai, who subject their patients to an HIV test on
admission. The administrator of one leading private hospital in the
city however revealed that the number of HIV patients found in their
hospital is, in fact, not large. He says their numbers are restricted
to a small group of patients who shop around for services in the
city's private hospitals because of stigma. Strangely, the national
surveillance system has completely left out this vital sector from its
reckoning.

Why are researchers and scientists not interested in comparing the
private and public sector data on HIV/AIDS? What makes the better
nourished, wealthier class of people less vulnerable to AIDS and other
infectious diseases, in comparison to the poorer segment of society?

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

3. Never feel intimidated (Pune, Maharashtra)
Sakaal Times, November 25, 2008
http://www.sakaaltimes.com/2008/11/25152228/Never-feel-intimidated.html

by Nikhil Asrani

Youngsters need to be encouraged and supported to take an active
interest in AIDS awareness campaigns. Nikhil Asrani tells you what's
in store this December 1, 2008, the 20th anniversary of the World AIDS
Day campaign

UNAIDS, a joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and
World Health Organisation 2007, reported: "In 2007, 33.2 million
people were living with HIV, while 2.5 million had new HIV infections.
Deaths caused by AIDS was 2.1 million last year." In India, the age
group of 15 to 29 years accounts for 31 per cent of people living with
HIV, demonstrating that young people are at particularly high risk of
contracting the deadly virus. To face this risk and turn around the
epidemic, young people must be encouraged and supported to take
leadership roles within their communities.

Like student Anjali Rane says, "I've no clue why many young people
think that HIV is not a threat to them. It's mainly the youth who are
affected with AIDS. I recommend each and every teen to take part in
youth campaigns by NGOs, and learn and spread the message."

December 1, 2008 also happens to be the 20th anniversary of World AIDS
Day campaign. It hopes to bring together millions of individuals,
organisations and nations to bring our attention to the global AIDS
epidemic. Wake Up Pune is organising large-scale World AIDS Day
events, which will focus on young people as leaders and increase
awareness about HIV and AIDS.

The 2007 'leadership' theme continues this year with the slogan: 'Stop
AIDS. Keep the Promise.' Pune has been specifically selected for AIDS
campaign due to the high HIV prevalence rate here. In Pune, according
to 2007 statistics, the Maharashtra State AIDS Control Society
reported an HIV prevalence rate of 12.27 per cent from Government
Testing Centre Data — far higher than the national average of 0.3 per
cent.

"Organising dynamic, high profile and creative events to educate
people on HIV, overcoming stigma and discrimination, and ensuring
access to treatment, care and support, Wake Up Pune has been making
continuous effort to increase awareness about the epidemic. Thousands
of volunteers have lent their support to the cause. On November 15, we
had organised 'condom cricket tournament', which received good
response, and on December 1, we plan to organise youth mandals and HIV
expo and HIV rock concert," says Gayatri Natranjan, coordinator, Wake
up Pune.

Pune's band Agni will start the ball rolling on HIV Testing Week (from
December 1 to 8) on World AIDS Day with a concert at BJMC Ground. HIV
Expo, which will be organised during the day, will showcase the effort
and work of NGOs and other organisations, which are lending a hand in
support of AIDS awareness in Pune. There will also be an interactive
HIV awareness section. The HIV expo is an absolutely free event.
Besides, there will be an HIV-theme dance performance and films on HIV
will be screened. World AIDS Campaign, Wake Up Pune, Naz Foundation
Trust, UNFPA and BJMC are organising the events.

The fight against AIDS requires a far more proactive participation
from youngsters. BCA student Girish Jain says, "I am very much aware
of the AIDS campaign and happen to be a part of it. This year, I am
determined to take my friends to BJMC Ground and make them aware of
the global campaign. Let's be valiant and wake up and do something
decisive for others and us."

Lending another positive voice to this campaign is BCom student Mittal
Lalan. Quips he, "Because of AIDS, children are bullied, isolated and
shunned by their schoolmates. Stigma hurts and these kids miss out on
education. They also miss out on treatment. In your fight against
AIDS, unite for children; they need your love, care and protection."

The campaign needs more volunteers and commitment from youngsters as
engineering student Jyothi Jain says, "What is needed now are
increased efforts to promote youth participation and commitment; more
services aimed at youth; more parental involvement; more education and
information, using schools and websites; more protection for girls,
orphaned children and young women; and more communication with people
with HIV and AIDS." Adds Nilesh T, "I feel that education, awareness
and prevention are the only ways to curb the AIDS menace."

An HIV victim says, "We have already lost too many friends and
colleagues to HIV. I had very little information about AIDS and I
don't want others to repeat the mistake. If you don't know much about
AIDS, better go and find out instantly. Never feel shy or
intimidated."

Did you know?

* HIV/AIDS is the sixth leading cause of death among 15-to
24-year-olds in the world
* There is presently no cure for AIDS and no vaccine to prevent it
* Most people who get infected with HIV become seriously ill
within three years

HIV/AIDS cannot be transmitted by: Casual contact, shaking hands,
social hugging, sharing of utensils while eating together, coughing,
sneezing through the air we breathe, swimming in a common pool or
sharing of bathroom or toilet.

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

4. Cricketers to meet HIV affected people (Dubai)
The Hindu, November 26, 2008
http://www.hindu.com/2008/11/26/stories/2008112652921900.htm

Dubai: India and England cricketers will meet HIV affected youngsters
on December 1, World AIDS Day, as part of the ICC activities to
celebrate five years of raising awareness about the dreaded disease.

'Players taking part in major international matches will wear red
ribbons, as a global show of support for people living with HIV, while
the India and England teams will meet young people affected by HIV
ahead of the seventh ODI in Delhi,' an ICC release said. ICC Chief
Executive Haroon Lorgat said the ICC is proud of the contribution that
cricket has made in the fight against HIV/AIDS in the past five years.
- PTI

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

5. Meet on adolescent education an eye-opener (Ulsoor, Karnataka)
Citizen Matters, Bangalore, November 26, 2008
http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/articles/view/632-sex-education-schools

by Sudha Narasimhachar

December 1st is World HIV/AIDS Day. I do not believe in declaring just
one day in a year for a purpose, like Mother's Day or Father's Day.
However these days do hold some significance, because all the
authorities (government and non-government) and people working for the
cause get inspired to introspect, recount their activities of the year
and plan the activities for the next year.

Communication for Development and Learning (CDL), a city-based NGO,
recently conducted a series of workshops on HIV/AIDS and related
issues, both to sensitise journalists and motivate them to write more
on this issue. CDL works to enrich, empower and train people in all
kinds of media (both employed as well as freelance journalists).
HIV/AIDS was their focus this year. Topics covered by them included
women, children and adolescent education.

For each of these programmes, specialists in the field like the
doctors, representatives from the NGOs working for the cause,
government representatives and media specialists were invited. The
programme was therefore wholesome and informative.

The last of such programmes was a workshop on adolescent education
(also known as 'sex education') held at the Vidyadeep College, Ulsoor
(Halasuru) Road, on the 17th and 18th October 2008.

School curriculum does not touch HIV/AIDS

During the session, Basavaraja, Assistant Director of Department of
State Education, Research and Training (DSERT) gave an informative
account on the efforts that his department was making in association
with NCERT in this direction as a part of the National Population
Education Programme (NPEP). It was news to hear that the schools in
India followed the NPEP guidelines even before HIV/AIDS were unheard
of over here.

The topic of adolescent education is very sensitive and there have
been varied opinions about what has to be included in this programme.
DSERT had prepared comprehensive modules based on the guidelines laid
down by UNICEF and had also supplied them to all schools. But the same
were not being used because of strong objections raised at the meeting
of academicians, NGOs, government officials, politicians,
psychologists, doctors and other professionals.

Except Bangalore Medical Service Trust (BMST) and NIMHANS, none of the
others supported the modules. Most of them felt that Adolescent
Education Programme (AEP) did not need to be included in the
curriculum, as students would learn things gradually in due course.
Country-specific education was necessary and simply aping the West was
not advisable, as what was relevant to that culture may not suit our
culture, they felt.

Thus, as of now, DSERT conducts various extracurricular activities
such as debates, quiz contests, group discussions, role play and case
studies. These cover the various aspects of life skills like value
clarification, combating stress and strain, problems faced by
adolescents, smoking, alcohol and drug abuse, personality development,
building self-esteem, concentration, respect to elders, communal
harmony and so on.

There are strict guidelines against usage of the terms HIV/AIDS in the
AEP. Only indirect references are made to the harmful effects of
vices. Children between the age of 9 and 19 are covered under the AEP.

The modules for the ninth and tenth standard have been adopted, and it
specifies that female teachers impart the modules to girls, while male
teachers conduct the modules for boys.

'What do children need?'

After this session, there was a very lively panel discussion on
'Understanding adolescents and their needs and challenges faced by the
adolescents'. The panel consisted of Manika Ghosh, psychologist and
Professor of Maharani's College, Suman Sudhindra, Principal of
Meerambika High School, Chitra Rao, Coordinator, Developing
Initiatives for Social and Human Action (DISHA), Radha, a parent and
two college students.

About 22 per cent of the population are adolescents who are vulnerable
mentally, physically and psychologically and hence we need to give
proper attention to this segment of the population. The panel felt
that adolescents should be approached with sensitivity and love. Their
needs should be understood, for which the parents and teachers
required counseling, in keeping with the fast-changing world.

The span of adolescence was increasing of late, as children as young
as seven years were exposed to too many inputs, unlike in the past.
The dangers of sexually transmitted diseases are many and thus
children have to be cautioned against experimental and unsafe sex
experiences that could expose them to those diseases.

But how to do that was the major issue. Parents felt it was the duty
of the teachers to educate the children in this regard, while teachers
feel it was the duty of the parents to keep their children informed
and cautioned.

Principal of Meerambika School, Suman, said that her school counseled
parents of girls studying in the sixth and seventh standards to train
their children about 'good-touch' and 'bad-touch', respect their
reservations in their relationships/interactions, make them
responsible for small duties at home and in school and so on.

The two college students came out with what problems they faced during
adolescence. They definitely get curious about sexual experiences, and
the changes in their bodies and mind and try to find out more about
these things from various sources, if not educated in the right
manner, said Suman. They have terrible mood swings and feel irritated
with their parents' interference. They are more comfortable with
peers. All they look forward to is understanding, emotional support
and love from the parents instead of mere advices and dictums.

The teachers felt that adolescents are bound to make certain mistakes
due to curiosity and eagerness to know things. Such mistakes should
not be blown out of proportion either by the teachers or by the
parents and should be viewed lightly with humour and concern.

Chitra Rao strongly recommended counseling for parents as the
confusion of the adolescents starts at home and continues through
media and friends. They lack proper direction, vision and goal. Proper
career counseling is also very essential.

Manika Ghosh of Maharani's College summed up the discussion and said
how eroding family values were resulting in more and more problems.
The presence of the older generation used to take care of emotional
support for the other two generations. The difference in culture at
home and outside causes confusion in the minds of the children.
Children should not be considered as commodities that parents possess,
and parents should only act as facilitators. She said that children
should be taught the value of contentment at home.

On a lighter note, she said that what Aristotle had commented about
adolescents in 350 B.C. is relevant even today which proves that
adolescents are the same at all times. He recognised adolescence as a
distinct phase of life and commented that 'youth are heated by nature
as drunken men by wine'. Socrates had, in fact said, 'adolescents are
inclined to contradict their parents and tyrannise their teachers.'

The value of Indian culture

On the second day, Dr Vinod Chebbi of Medisex Foundation addressed the
participants on the needs of the adolescents. He said that sex
education in schools was introduced way back in 1967 in the US after a
study showed increasing incidence of sexually transmitted diseases
among adolescents and teenage prostitution.

Sex education, there, consisted of a study of anatomy, physiology and
contraception. After 17 years, when a survey was conducted, it was
shockingly learnt that there was an increase of 25 per cent in the
number of children exposed to sex, as the emphasis of sex education
was on the anatomy and not on safe sex.

Dr Chebbi said that India had very healthy methods of sex education
traditionally. Our strong family ties ensure very secure lives for
children and adolescents. The oldest texts on sexuality are available
here and prostitution had been accepted as a part of life and
respected in those ages. Young girls of marriageable age were trained
in the art of sex-making. Women were highly respected in the society.

All this changed somewhere in between and today we are at a stage when
we are to be told about adolescent education. Besides, parents do not
recognise the creative skills of their children or their aptitude and
force them into courses which they feel will fetch them lucrative
jobs. Such an attitude is distancing the children from the parents
more and more. How can such parents freely discuss issues of sexuality
with the adolescents, who have pent up anger against them?

A study conducted by the students revealed that as of now, parents are
very hesitant to discuss matters of sexuality with adolescents.
Definitely there is a need for adolescent education to be included in
the curriculum to be taught by the science or physical education
teachers, at least for a period of six months. Every school should
have trained counselors for the students to frankly discuss their
problems.

On the whole, the workshop was an eye-opener for the parents, teachers
and authorities. The churning has begun and the results will be
positive.


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

6. INDIA: Women taught to talk about AIDS
http://www.alertnet.org, November 26, 2008
http://www.alertnet.org/db/blogs/55267/2008/10/26-143459-1.htm

Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this
article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are
the author's alone.

Jyoti Tiwari is a determined young woman on a mission to raise
awareness of HIV/AIDS in India's most populous state, where school
teachers regularly burn textbooks containing any reference to teenage
sexuality. Tiwari is an assistant teacher in a programme to train
young women to spread the word about AIDS among the most deprived and
backward communities in Uttar Pradesh, an intensely patriarchal state
of over 16 million people.

Despite the state's great vulnerability to the virus, brought on by a
tottering health care system, large-scale worker migration and a long
porous border with Nepal, the issue is clothed in superstition and fed
on misinformation. The thousand-odd students in the fast-track
residential programme called Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV)
are trained to use subtle techniques to overcome women's reluctance to
discuss sexual issues when they return to their villages and
communities.

"I weave in my lessons with embroidery classes," Tiwari said. "Between
tips on matching threads and setting patterns, we talk of village
gossip, of infidelity, of sexual health." A needle prick could become
the starting point for a discussion on sources of transmitting the HIV
virus. Local gossip about a man who leaves his wife for another woman
can be turned into a lively debate about the physical and social
benefits of monogamy, and extended to the need for women to be
economically independent.

One of the students on the programme, Anita Kumari, admitted to having
to overcome initial shyness in discussing sexual issues. "Before I
would consider such discussions dirty," she said. "But now I know
better."

Another student, Nazia Maqdood, says she is glad to have the
opportunity to be a leader of sorts in her community. "If women, who
are most at risk, do not tackle this issue, who will?" she asked.

A similar conclusion was reached by the first-ever International
Women's Summit on HIV and AIDS held in Nairobi in July. A 10-point
action plan focused on developing leadership among women to respond to
HIV/AIDS and concluded with the message: "We can lead the change we
wish to see in the world."

In their own little corners of the world, Jyoti, Nazia and Anita are
already leading that change.

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

7. AIDS by tears? - In India, Malteser International works for HIV
prevention and against discrimination of people living with HIV/AIDS
http://www.alertnet.org, November 27, 2008
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/332065/122779441969.htm

Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this
article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are
the author's alone.

The small bearded man plays the drums and starts to sing in a deep
voice. The melody is so catchy and the rhythm so simple that the
auditors jiggle their feet and heads. Pazhania Pillai beams and begins
singing a new song. The group of young people acting with him performs
a traditional dance. A short peace of theatre follows. The
presentation makes the auditorium smile, although it is about a
serious issue: HIV/AIDS in India. For the artist Pillai, this issue is
the most important of all: "I write about things that concern the
people's lives", he says.

During the last ten years, he has written more than 80 songs about
HIV/AIDS. "People in India don't talk about sexuality", he explains.
However, since the disease spreads more and more, it is necessary to
break that taboo. In the form of traditional melodies, the people
accept what Pazhania Pillai wants to tell them. Meanwhile, radio
stations in the whole country play his songs.

AIDS is a serious problem in India. About 2.5 million people are
infected with HIV. The HIV/AIDS problem is especially pressing in the
south, above all in the state of Tamil Nadu. It's hard to say why so
many people are infected just there. A possible reason is the high
number of migrants in this region. Michael Hinsch of Malteser
International explains: "Every year, many fishermen from Tamil Nadu
move to the neighbouring state of Kerala for some weeks in order to
fish there. Even more of them go to work to the big cities like Bombay
or Chennai for some years."

There, the risk of getting infected with the virus by prostitutes is
high. According to the United Nations (UNAIDS), most of the people in
India contract the disease by unprotected heterosexual contacts. For
this reason, an unusually high number of women (38%) are affected.
Like Helen Marie. When her husband died of AIDS, she did a HIV-test
for her and her children. It turned out that she was HIV-positive, her
sons (six, twelve and 14 years old), however, negative. When the
33-years-old woman talks about her everyday life, her eyes fill with
tears: "Everybody let me down. I'm not even allowed to enter my
family's house. My brothers and sisters gave me 300 rupees (about six
euros) and told me not to come back home again."

Without support by the family, life in India is hard. "I worry about
money all the time. No one wants to hire me as a domestic help, since
the people have found out that I have the same illness as my husband."
Helen Marie rents a part of her small house, but with the income, she
hardly makes ends meet. And not even within her own four walls, the
young woman is safe from hostilities: "The couple that lives with me
says I'm not allowed to use the bathroom, because they are afraid of
getting infected." Often, she feels like crying, but fights against
tears: "When I cry in public, the people think that they may get
infected by my tears!"

This ignorance about the ways of infection provides the basis for
discrimination of HIV infected people and their relatives. Michael
Hinsch knows many examples of social isolation. "Some villagers don't
shake hands with HIV-infected persons, they don't buy in their shops
and forbid their children to play with the children of HIV-infected
neighbours." Many people living with HIV/AIDS also have financial
hardships; they can hardly earn a living for their families, because
they are too weak to work or because they can't find an employment.
Often, parents even have to give their children to a children's home,
because they can't afford to bring them up and to send them to schools
anymore.

Another problem is the medical care. "In the case of many
AIDS-patients, the disease is not diagnosed until it has broken out",
Michael Hinsch says. "The patients are sent from hospital to hospital,
before someone makes the right diagnosis. That way, they have to pay a
lot of money. Some of them even run into debts." There are people who
suspect that some of the doctors know the diagnosis, but don't
administer a blood test, only in order to keep on treating the
symptoms and gain as much money as possible with their patients.

Sheila is best informed about the problems of HIV-infected people. The
employee of the Indian relief organisation Centre for Social
Reconstruction (CSR) is HIV-positive herself. Her husband died of AIDS
in 2004. Two of her four children - three and five years old - bear
the virus like their mother. But the 32-years-old woman says: "At the
moment, we are fine. I take antiretroviral drugs that reduce the
number of viruses in the blood, and so do my children.?" She has made
it her business to demonstrate to other HIV-infected persons that life
is not over after the terrible diagnosis. Together with Malteser
International, CSR started a project that supports AIDS victims and
informs healthy people about the disease. An important measure
consists in providing a life in dignity to AIDS patients. Therefore,
Sheila and her colleagues do house visits to consult the patients and
inform them about their rights, e.g. about the right of free treatment
with antiretroviral drugs during the first year.

They urge the hospitals to give the treatment that their patients
need. Care trainings for the infected persons as well as for their
relatives help the patients to keep living at home as long as
possible. Another constituent of the project are the educational
campaigns on the struggle against stigmatization and for the
prevention of further infections. "When a large part of the population
in South India knows that you can't get infected by a handshake, an
important aim will be achieved", Michael Hinsch resumes. Therefore,
Malteser International and CRS organise workshops for youth groups,
women's and men's associations and Christian groups. They conceive
exhibitions and hire artists like Pazhania Pillai with his committed
music, dance and theatre group.

Their performances proves that it's a promising concept: At the end of
his programme, Pazhania Pillai is on his best. The auditors have stood
up, clap and sing along with enthusiasm. And, by the way, learn the
most important facts about HIV/AIDS. "With my songs, I want to make
sure that the healthy people show solidarity with the infected
persons", says Pillai. And if the people remember his melodies, maybe
they will remember the messages, too.

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

8. 'JK has low AIDS prevalence'
GK News Network, November 28, 2008
http://www.greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=29_11_2008&ItemID=50&cat=6

Jammu, Nov 28: With three days to observe World AIDS day, a top
official monitoring prevalence of AIDS in Jammu and Kashmir has said
the state has low prevalence of HIV-AIDS but the inflow of large
number of truckers, heavy concentration of troops and tourist arrivals
are the biggest worries before the AIDS control programme planners.
The project director J&K State AIDS Control Society Dr M A Wani while
speaking at an extension lecture on 'AIDS scenario in Jammu and
Kashmir: Worries and Concerns' organized by the Centre for Adult,
Continuing Education & Extension (CACE&E), University of Jammu Friday
said: 'The truckers, forces, tourists (both religious tourists and
other domestic tourists) were coming to the state from high prevalence
states like Karnataka, Maharashtra, Nagaland, Tamil Nadu, Bihar thus
becoming a potential threat for spread of the disease.'

Dr Wani said the disease is most dangerous health problem. 'Many
countries in the world have simply been wiped out due to this killer
disease,' he added. 'The disease was detected in 1981 and it is
unbelievable to see that it has spread like an epidemic in various
countries. In just 27 years, 42 million people have got affected with
this disease. In India, the first AIDS case was detected in Chennai in
1986 and in these 25 years only, 25 lakh people have got infected with
HIV AIDS disease,' said Dr Wani who has 27 years of experience in the
hospital administration.

Giving startling figures, he said, 12 new born babies are getting
affected with HIV virus every minute, six people die with this disease
globally every minute and India adds one person every minute to the
number of HIV patients. 'Everyday, 16,000 patients are being added in
the HIV AIDS patients' list worldwide while 8000 deaths are occurring
globally due to this killer disease,' he said adding countries like
Botswana are critically infected with the virus as every third person
there is an HIV positive. Major issues in such countries are not
education and poverty but only how to control the disease, he said.

Regarding J&K, he said the state has low prevalence of disease and the
epidemic here is static and 'totally under control.' 'The percentage
in both higher level risk groups and lower level risk groups in J&K
has dropped,' he added. 'However, we still keep on adding numbers to
the AIDS patients. But this is a very successful parameter of AIDS
control programme as it shows that more and more people are coming
forward to get treated,' he said adding people are now voluntarily
coming to get the disease detected.

'Over 34,000 people came to our AIDS testing centres for getting
themselves tested for the disease,' he said.

Asserting that J&K is a religious society, he said if we have to
control AIDS, we need to follow moral road map which needs to be given
to each child. Earlier, Prof Poonam Dhawan, Director CACE&E said the
AIDS control Society is doing a tremendous work under the leadership
of Dr. Wani.

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

9. More cash needed to help care for Indians with HIV
AFP, November 28, 2008
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5go6f4rE1ZNbQJZolWslzZu6WMEMg

BANGALORE (AFP) - Father Sunny Joseph has no doubts about what is
required to help treat children and adults with HIV. "We need more
money," he said. "We need much more, for medication especially." The
reed-thin Roman Catholic priest is administrator at Snehadaan, a
community care centre located beyond the glass-fronted IT offices on
the rural fringes of the southern Indian city of Bangalore.

Men and women come here for treatment they cannot get elsewhere,
either through poverty, lack of medical facilities, or because their
families are sick, dead, unable or too ashamed to care for them. The
iron-framed beds in the centre's scrubbed, whitewashed wards also
provide a place to die with dignity. Local facilities like Snehadaan
are at the heart of India's latest five-year plan to cut infection
rates, yet Joseph said budgets are tight and demand is high.

The centre receives a total of 1,350 dollars per month from the Global
Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the local Karnataka
Health Promotion Trust. The Samastha Project, a five-year,
20-million-dollar US Agency for International Development (USAID)
programme focusing on 12 high prevalence rural areas in Karnataka
state, provides 1,200 dollars per month. Local benefactors and the
charitable trust that runs the centre also contribute. Out of that
monthly total, 1,800 to 2,000 dollars goes on drugs. The rest goes on
wages and running costs. "It's not enough," said Joseph.

Dr Nalini Mehta, national programme officer for the UNAIDS body, said
India's HIV-AIDS strategy was wide-ranging and well-regarded, with a
massively increased budget in recent years. But Snehadaan's experience
indicated the scale of the task, he told AFP ahead of World AIDS Day
on Monday. "There will be individual centres who will say there is not
enough (money). There is scope for a lot more and I don't think that
the government doesn't know that. They do understand but they are
upscaling," he said. Despite the pressures, the 42 staff at Snehadaan
work to provide everything from counselling and support to palliative
care for some of the 500,000 people in Karnataka with HIV and
AIDS-related illnesses.

Between 2.0 million and 3.1 million people are estimated to have
HIV-AIDS in India, according to the latest government estimates, and
Karnataka is one of six states where prevalence is highest. As in
other areas of health care, many of the country's poorest slip through
the net. So-called "first-line" anti-retroviral therapy (ART) -- a
cocktail of drugs to slow the effects of the virus on the body's
immune system -- is free in India's patchy public health system. For
those whose bodies develop resistance to the drugs, second-line ART
costs 14,000 rupees (280 dollars) for two months' treatment. That puts
it way beyond the means of people in impoverished rural areas where
HIV is spreading and where the average salary is as little as a dollar
day. UNAIDS has expressed concern that second-line ART and paediatric
treatment is "inaccessible" in most Indian states.

As a result, Snehadaan follows a similar strategy to schemes targeting
high-risk groups such as sex workers and intravenous drug workers:
prevention and myth-busting. "We can see from our experience from 10
years ago that when someone died, no one from the family would take
the body away. Now they take the body back to their native places,"
said the centre's medical trainer Madhu Babu. "That shows that there
has been some change." Older people's views are more entrenched, he
said, but children could spread a positive message. At present, the
centre has 50 beds, and 20 children aged 11 and younger live on site
and receive treatment when they are not in class at the Shining Star
School.

The colourful plastic climbing frames, smiling class photographs on
the walls and a star-covered Christmas tree contrast with the ghostly
figures lying motionless and dying in nearby wards. The youngsters
were either born with the disease, orphaned by it, or their families
were unable or unwilling to care for them. Some mainstream schools
also refused to teach them. Teacher Christeena Nalini Radhamma says
the scheme seems to be working. "These children enjoy it here. As a
form of punishment we say we will send you home, and they don't want
to go," she said.

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


10. HIV/AIDS signature campaign at Students' Centre (Chandigarh)
Express News service, November 28, 2008
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/hiv-aids-signature-campaign-at-students-\
centre/391706/

Chandigarh: A signature campaign and an exhibition on HIV/AIDS was
organised at the Students' Centre by the Department of Social Work,
Panjab University on Friday. The event was held to culminate the
two-day campaign held to mark World AIDS Day. Keeping in tune with the
theme - Lead, Empower and Deliver - the department decided to empower
the maximum number of people with a view to reach the masses.

Basic information about the issue with a special focus on India, were
highlighted in the exhibition. People were also told about clinics in
the city where one can get tested for HIV/AIDS. Professor M K Teja,
coordinator of the department, said such events are the need of the
hour and everyone should come forward and support the fight against
the epidemic. A signature campaign was also held.

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

11. AIDS awareness workshop for cops in Mohali
Express News service, November 28, 2008
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/aids-awareness-workshop-for-cops-in-moha\
li/391703/

Mohali: A special workshop on HIV/AIDS was organised for the staffers
of the Mohali Police by the Fortis Hospital in association with the
Punjab State AIDS Control Society (PSACS) on Thursday. Mohali Senior
Superintendent of Police (SSP) Jatinder Singh Aulakh, Superintendent
of Police (City) Varinder Pal Singh and Deputy Superintendent of
Police Swarandeep Singh were among the 100 officers who attended the
workshop at the hospital auditorium.

As part of the ongoing awareness campaign by ACTFAST, the Fortis
group, Thursday's workshop was specially designed for the police
personnel. 'The police can play an important role in helping
non-government organisations spread AIDS awareness amongst the masses,
especially those behind the bars,' said a hospital release. Branch
executive committee member, Family Planning Association of India
(FPAI), Mohali, MS Dhillon, conducted an informative session on
HIV/AIDS. He discussed various topics including modes of transmission,
high risk groups, prevention of HIV/AIDS transmission, myths and
misconceptions regarding HIV/AIDS and the role of society towards
people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA).

Fortis Hospital medical director Dr Ashok V Chordiya advised the
police officials to adopt a sensitive and liberal attitude towards
PLHA. He requested them to provide direct care and assistance to them.
Red ribbons were also distributed to all present at the workshop.

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

12. India's hijras spread safe sex message in life or death AIDS fight
Taiwan News, November 28, 2008
http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=798905&lang=eng_news

Reuters

Savitha was born a boy but became a girl at the age of 16. Nine years
on, she sells cheap sex to lorry drivers at a dusty truck stop outside
the southern Indian city of Bangalore. As one of the hijra community -
the cross-dressers, pre- and post-operative transsexuals known here as
eunuchs - she is used to the prejudice and discrimination that comes
with being bottom of India's rigid social ladder.

But she and others like her who sell their bodies, sometimes for less
than the cost of a packet of cigarettes, are helping India's fight
against HIV-AIDS. Whatever the price offered and however insistent the
client, no condom means no sex. "If the trucker doesn't want to use a
condom and they insist, we won't do it," she said, adjusting her
salmon pink sari. "Even if we lose a client we will still have our
health."

Twenty minutes' drive away, up the main highway from Bangalore to Pune
in the west, Radhamma, another male-to-female transsexual who paid for
Savitha's illegal sex change, has a similar rule. "We won't do
anything without a condom," said the 38-year-old. "If a driver or any
person comes and wants sex without a condom we will slap him and send
him out."

Savitha lives with three other hijra in a corrugated-roofed "hamam" or
bathhouse up a rutted track at Madanayakana Halli off the main
highway, where the air is a heady mix of stale sweat, urine, engine
oil and cigarette smoke. Radhamma heads a six-strong hamam next to a
petrol station at a busy junction on the main Bangalore to Pune
highway at Nelamangala. Both are desperate, uninviting places for sex.
Yet in the absence of formal sex education in schools and with
discussion of sex still generally taboo, these are the places where
India will win or lose the fight against HIV-AIDS.


The Indian government estimates that between two million and 3.1
million people are living with HIV-AIDS. The spread of the illness has
been in part due to unsafe sexual practices among India's 7.7 million
truckers who contract the virus after sex with prostitutes, passing it
on when they sleep with their unsuspecting wives back home or even
co-drivers.

Savitha's hamam is a dimly-lit stone-floored shack. On the peeling,
pink wall is a dog-eared poster showing three smiling truck drivers.
In Hindi, it tells them to take care of their bodies just as they do
their vehicles. The poster was produced by the Bhoruka Charitable
Trust, a local organization supported by the Gates Foundation that
works a 10-km stretch of the nearby highway, telling truckers about
safe sex.

It is the model for about 15 projects that have been set up at
hotspots on highways across India, where truckers look for sex,
alcohol or both after a long day in a grimy cab on polluted, potholed
roads.

All the projects are monitored by the Transport Corporation of India
Foundation (TCIF), the social arm of the country's leading road cargo
business. India's National AIDS Control organization is soon to
oversee all the schemes. According to the TCIF, long-distance truckers
are on average more than three times more likely to have HIV than the
general population, rising to six for those who working in southeast
India. "The project is very helpful in supplying condoms," said
Savitha. "More drivers know about HIV and sexually-transmitted
infections, but many still have no idea about how to use condoms. We
teach them."

The charity also stages discussion groups about safe sex in hauliers'
offices, themed daily street plays in truck stops and installs vending
machines selling condoms for just five rupees (US$0.10) each.

HIV testing is available at its medical center on the highway, while
truckers can get check-ups, discounted prescriptions or counselling at
the organization's travelling ambulance. The preventative drive has
found favor among the close-knit community of macho truckers, who
admit it is helping them be more aware of the consequences of risky
behavior.

"Those who are becoming drivers now at age 18 to 20, they're avoiding
these things totally," said Darshan Singh, 40, who drives the 2,300
kms from the northern city of Chandigarh to Bangalore.

"People are becoming more health conscious because of AIDS. The people
funding these programs are doing a very good thing. It's really
benefiting the people here."

Excluded from society and persecuted, India's hijras often have little
choice but to beg or sell sex for a living. Human Rights Watch
recently alleged there was a policy of "social cleansing" against
hijras in the Bangalore area. But their work in promoting safe sex is
at least one small positive in a desperately hard life, not just for
society as a whole but for themselves, said Radhamma.

"HIV is a very deadly disease," she said. "If we were having unsafe
sex then we will die. If we lose our health, we lose our livelihood."

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

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