'What is Indian about HIV/AIDS' in India

[Guest guest]

India's AIDS problem

A Correspondent. April 11, 2007 02:19 IST

More than 150 people attended an interdisciplinary conference, 'What

is Indian about HIV/AIDS' in India. Among those present were

academics and experts from various institutions and agencies.

The South Asian Studies Program at Emory University in Atlanta,

Georgia, sponsored the event that featured a dialogue on the problem

among activists, academics, public health experts, representatives

of various foundations, media personnel, and people living with

HIV/AIDS.

The objective of the event, organized by SASP Director Deepika

Bahri, was to discuss how India's economy, culture, policies -- and

the rest of the world -- shape an epidemic that has caught the

global community by surprise.

'In a country where many believed that culture would protect the

population from HIV/AIDS, the number of cases today exceeds 5.2

million, surpassing South Africa, afflicting its most productive age-

group, and posing a formidable threat to its galloping growth rate,'

a spokesperson noted.

The immediate goal of the conference was to explore comprehensive,

context-sensitive responses to public health threats through

discussion on the 'Indian-ness' of HIV/AIDS.

Participants from India and the United States included those from

the Centers for Disease Control, CARE, United States Agency for

International Development, Department of Health and Human Services,

the World Bank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies,

and the Gates Foundation.

Physician and lawyer Vineeta Gupta, who is founder and director of

the Stop HIV/AIDS in India Initiative, summarized the goal of the

conference when she said, 'What's Indian about HIV/AIDS that gets

lost?'

In the opening session of the conference, titled Local Epidemics,

Global Responses, government officials, scholars, scientists, and

physicians attempted to answer Gupta's question.

They discussed and analyzed the various ways the global community

has reacted to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in India. 'Given that HIV/AIDS

is debilitating the most productive segment of Indian society, it is

not surprising that both India and the international community have

taken several steps to curb the spread of the disease,' it was noted.

Despite the altruistic intentions of international actors, a review

of the presentations in this panel revealed that anti-HIV/AIDS

bilateral and multilateral programs can only succeed if they account

for the unique social, cultural, political, and economic

characteristics of India.

'We're talking about HIV/AIDS, and attacking it means getting into

the most intimate parts of people's lives -- religious, social and

cultural. India has 28 states, 17 major languages, 844 dialects. It

is a multi-cultural, multi-religious society. The [health] programs

have to be designed keeping the diversity in mind,' Gupta said.

Altaf Lal, regional representative for South Asia at the US

Department of Health and Human Services, emphasized that effective,

sound HIV/AIDS programs must include four elements: 1. people,

policies, and political support; 2. environment, economy, and

epidemiology; 3. institutions, infrastructure, and industry; and 4.

commitment, collaboration, and cooperation.

Harriet , chief of the Division of Microbiology and

Immunology at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, a member

of the Emory Vaccine Center, and the Asa Griggs Candler professor of

microbiology and immunology at Emory University, stressed the need

for more affordable and safe HIV/AIDS vaccines since existing ones

are often too expensive and carry unintended, adverse physical side

effects.

Her vaccine development program, a collaborative effort between

scientists at the Emory Vaccine Center, the National Institutes of

Health and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention led to the

development of a vaccine that has been licensed by GeoVax Inc and is

currently in early phase human trials.

To Sundar Sundararaman, former director of the AIDS Research

Foundation of India and now the technical adviser to the Bill and

Melinda Gates Foundation initiative aimed at preventing the spread

of HIV/AIDS in India, the question which was most important for him

was: 'How do people within these target communities understand

HIV/AIDS?'

He focused on the socio-moral notions underlying the concepts of

AIDS (that is, people who do bad things will get HIV/AIDS, or, that

those who get HIV/AIDS are bad people).

He also stressed the traditional social and cultural constructs and

the emerging frameworks, which enable those living with HIV/AIDS to

assert their self-worth, join up, and articulate their dreams.

Sudha Sivaram, a scientist at s Hopkins Bloomberg School of

Public Health, stressed the need for ethical data collection and

information on sharing practices, while Bahri, a specialist in

postcolonial studies, called for attention to live experience and

narrative and artistic responses to HIV/AIDS.

The conference concluded with the panel, 'How many disciplines does

it take to understand a global epidemic?' The answer seemed to be

innumerable: biomedicine, anthropology, sociology, public health,

political science, literature, film, nutrition. Such an epidemic

called for creative means of intervention, tolerance, treatment, and

empowerment.

However, it was not clear what makes Indian AIDS uniquely Indian.

Probably the final word came from a man living with AIDS who spoke

through a representative because he could not walk to the

microphone. He told the gathering that if he had been in India, his

doctors told him, he would be dead, a reminder that the stakes of

such intellectual inquiry has material and moral consequences.

http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/apr/11aids.htm