Invitation:Fundraiser for Impahl, Manipur in Minnesota, USA

July 28, 2003

Invitation To Fundraiser For Imphal, Manipur, India

Saturday, Septembe 20th, 2003

1200 Nicollet Mall

Minneapolis, Minnesota

(Enter on 12th Street near LaSalle Street)

7:00 - 10:00 pm

PlanetAide is a grassroots tax-exempt Minnesota Corporation assisting doctors

treating HIV/AIDS in developing countries. Please visit our website

www.planetaide.org for a complete description of our programs. PlanetAide

wishes to raise $125,000 to open a clinic in Imphal for HIV/AIDS patients.

India-AIDS: Lack of AIDS medicines kills hundreds in India's northeast

Agence France-Presse - September 4, 2002 IMPHAL, India, Sept 4 (AFP) - Lack of

medicines and proper health care facilities are leading to the

deaths of hundreds of HIV-infected people in India's northeastern region,

experts and patients said Wednesday. " Anti-retroviral drugs required for

treatment of HIV-AIDS are either not immediately available or in most cases

unaffordable due to high costs, " Banta Singh, president of the Manipur Network

of Positive People (MNPP), told AFP.

" This has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people in the region. While some

such cases have come to light, there are hundreds of others whose

deaths have gone unreported, " he said. " Unless AIDS is declared a national

problem and free medicines supplied by the government, the plight of people in

thousands infected with HIV could turn from bad to worst, " he warned. An HIV

patient has to spend between 2,800 rupees to 8,000 rupees (57 to 160 dollars) a

month towards medicines depending on the combination of drugs used.

According to various estimates, there could be up to 100,000 HIV-positive

patients in the seven states of India's northeast, The high incidence of HIV has

been attributed to the high rates of intravenous drug use among the local

people, with more than 200,000 intravenous drug users in the region of 38

million people. India's northeastern states border the heroin-producing " Golden

Triangle " of Laos, Myanmar and Thailand.

Some 3.5 million Indians are HIV-positive, although unofficial estimates put the

figure at closer to five million. The figure gives India the largest

HIV-positive population after South Africa.

PlanetAide 3010 Hennepin Avenue South, Ste 176 Minneapolis,

Minnesota 55408

612-333-6003

PlanetAide

E-mail: <planetaide@...>

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