Re: India minister vows to beat AIDS

[Guest guest]

Dear FORUM,

I wish I had the same confidence as the Health Minister in the statements she is

making. In my estimation there are over 10 million infected Indians and most of

them do not look or feel unwell.

Most do not believe that VCT's are for them but for others whose status suggests

they should test. Communities are still not safe for people to obtain the

support they need if they test. Services for care support and treatment are

totally inadequate to encourage people who feel they might have had a risk

exposure to come out and test while they still have an immune system that will

enable them to live a normal lifespan.

Of course not all who test positive will need ART therapy but if India waits too

much longer they can just forget about ART and concentrate on building hospice

care facilities to allow infected Indian to die with dignity. We have taught

indians how to die with HIV and they are passing the tests with flying colours.

I hope that one day we will be able to teach Indians how to live with HIV and

then and only then will realistic prevention initiatives be possible.

HIV is difficult to transmit except under some very stringent scientific

conditions where temperature variation and an absence of air are together in

place. Indians and others in Asia have learned how to simulate these conditions

with dangerous unprotected anal and vaginal intercourse which ensures an easy

transmission ride from person to person. No one is teaching the miriad variety

of ways to enjoy sexuality that doesn't involve such risk behaviours and until

we do the high risk behaviours will continue.

Condoms reduce the transmission risks on the two most common ways by 99% but

still we frown on discussing the correct and fun ways to make use of this

prevention technique.

If my mother was the Health Minister I would be very critical of the bits she is

leaving out of her public messages that might encourage people to be a bit more

intellectually honest about the sexual proclivities of the average Indian

citizen.

There is no place for moralising about sexual behaviour when a pandemic as

damaging as this one is rampaging around us. Just look at the 24 million live

births last year many of them to unwed mothers. This must surely indicate that

protective behaviours are being used by very few people.

e are having many more doctors skilled at treating STI's but the rampant spread

of untreated STI's is preparing the way for infection with much more severe

infections and a paralysing increase in health costs.

I hope that when India thinks of HIV it remembers that it can affect anyone and

before long if 10 million are really infected there will not be any family that

can say it is untouched by the virus.

We are always hearing about windows of opportunity. Well India's window of

opportunity will not remain open for much longer.This morning on BBC News we

heard a summary of UNAIDS reporting and again two nations were named as out of

control, India and Africa. We saw the usual skeletal body of an indian and a

sari clad carer and in Africa we saw rows of people on beds and on floor mats.

The same pictures we saw years ago which would seem to indicate that hopeful

stories of care, support, and treatment, with return to work initiatives and the

like are still light years away for us.

Why is this so for India? I know why it is so for Africa because they are still

dependent on Abstinence as the only form of prevention and the statistics echo

the fact that the message is not being understood or followed.

But for India we are not so dependent. It is OK to talk about Abstinence to our

young children but for the average sexually active Indian we need to warn about

the ten million active virus carriers any one of which could be the next sexual

partner of our sons or our daughters and if we are not producing better

protection messages and a much wider repertoire of safer sexual behaviours we

are providing no insurance for their healthy futures.

What should be happening is that care, safe support and comprehensive treatment

should be happening now. From that will come awareness of just who is testing

positive and lifestyle changes can result. Being positive doesn't mean that your

life is over, even your sex life, but it does require new skills to protect

yourself and any partners who are sharing your life now or in the future.

Most positive living persons having access to adequate care and treatment

describe a better life than they often enjoyed before their test. India should

be having this experience.

We have taught people to die with HIV now we need to be teaching them to live

with the virus and to be accountable to themselves and their communities so

that one day we can say that new infections have stopped. That will be the

measure of success and Health Ministers at all levels should be working and

speaking towards that result.

Geoffrey

E-mail:<gheaviside@...>