10th anniversary of AIDS INDIA eFORUM

[Guest guest]

10th anniversary of AIDS INDIA e FORUM

This month AIDS INDIA e FORUM is celebrating it's decade long service to HIV

response in India.

To develop an effective HIV response in India, it is essential to deliver timely

credible, and multisectoral policy and program information about HIV and AIDS.

It has to reach not just clinicians and scientists, but a huge array of others,

such as public health practitioners, social and behavioural scientist,

policymakers, donors, activists, people living with HIV and AIDS, outreach

workers and project managers.

To address this need, 10 years ago this service was began as an e FORUM for

information and communication on HIV and AIDS related issues in India, with a

handful of subscribers. Currently, it has more than 7,300 subscribers. The

subscriber list reads like `who is who' of HIV response in India.

The membership comes from all walks of life. Students, lawyers, government

officials, welfare officers of large institutions, researchers, people living

with HIV and leaders of youth and student organizations.

" i am a student of medical anthropology at the school of oriental and African

studies, London and have spent the last few years of my life in activism around

rights, legal and ethical issues relating to HIV/AIDS in India. my specific

concerns revolve around policy issues, especially around sexuality and gender " .

" I am a lawyer by profession. I have been active in the field of HIV/AIDS

prevention for the past 5 years. I have mostly been involved with projects

targeting MSM as a high risk group for intervention "

" I work with NACO, and the state aids control societies to plan their

communication strategies. I have regular access to your mails that my

colleagues generously share at NACO, but I thought I should get enlisted with

the FORUM by myself, So I am joining the forum " .

" I look after Employee Welfare in one of the largest construction company in

India. We regularly conduct HIV/AIDS awareness programmes for employees and

their family. The information from your end helps to be updated on the subject "

Internet Mediated Communication (IMC) has been identified as a powerful tool to

disseminate HIV/AIDS related information and communication. e FORUM

is an example of a virtual organization responding to AIDS crisis, by

facilitating networking, communication and collaboration among those of who are

involved or interested in AIDS related issues in India.

Even though, increasingly a range of new forms of social media is emerging,

e-groups still presents a viable means for a rapid `multi centric' participatory

communication on HIV/AIDS issues. e-FORUM is an example of this

model. A phenomenal number of subscribers are using this forum on a daily basis

to receive HIV/AIDS related information and communication in India and to

present their views on HIV/AIDS policies, programs and over all concerns.

As a non-state information agency, as an informal channel for coordinated action

by the PLHAs and other HIV stake holders this forum also has been identified as

an effective tool for national level advocacy on HIV/AIDS issues.

The potential of this forum is varied and extensive. Ongoing stake holder

consultation, delivering distance learning programs, distance learning

certification, on line tutorials, skill building, policy dialogue, structured

discussion on policy and program issues, rapid diffusion of information about

new training and education materials, sources and opportunities of such

trainings are some of the potential of this forum.

One of the function of the internet mediated communication is the rapid

diffusion of innovations and ideas. Hypothetically the subscribers of the forums

like e FORUM are people who are innovative and willing to try new

methods products to access AIDS related information.

AIDS INDIA e FORUM is one of the few eGROUPS, which has been accredited as a

" source of reliable health information " by a Geneva based health information

accreditation agency HOL Foundation.

More than 11700 item of message are posted on the forum, provides a fascinating

overview of HIV situation and it response. The discussions are lively and

insightful. Which often varies to grievances from the people living with HIV,

disfunctioning HIV care services, latest policy issues in treatment, advanced

research publication and a range of opinions on HIV response in general.

A recent discussion about sex work and law on AIDS INDIA e FORUM provides an

insight into how the laws to control and regulate sex work in India are viewed

by various stakeholders.

The discussion was prompted by the defeat of a new law to regulate sex work –

the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Amendment Bill. According to Tripti Tandon of

the Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit the Bill:

`Intended to shift legislative policy on sex work from tolerance to prohibition.

This was sought to be done through the introduction of a new offence of visiting

a brothel, which would penalise clients. It also sought to broaden the meaning

of prostitution to include all transactional sex, as opposed to acts involving

exploitation on a commercial scale.

By inserting a definition of trafficking for prostitution, the bill attempted to

criminalise poverty induced sex work. Other changes included lowering rank of

Police authorized to arrest, search and raid brothels and extending detention of

sex workers to seven years. Sex workers vehemently opposed these measures which,

they believed, would offset any positive effect of decriminalizing soliciting.'

In response to Ms Tandon's update Dr Krishnan posted a message which questioned

the agency of women in the sex industry and pointed to the importance of anti

trafficking initiatives. Dr Krishnan's message implied that sex workers rights

advocates are, at best, ignorant and out of touch with the realities or women in

the sex industry and, at worst, `support the perpetrators to legitimise this

human rights violation'.

The exchanges are freely available online and they provide an interesting

insight into some of the most important debates on sex work in India at the

current time

However, running such a forum is not necessarily an act which attracts bouquet

of followers always. Some HIV officials treat this forum as a nuisance, and the

editor had to face the wrath of some of the senior HIV bureaucrats in the

country.

Based on, over the decade of experience in running this FORUM one notices that

increasingly many individuals are reluctant, rather scared to share their views

and opinions freely and frankly on e- forums. Fear of reprisal and victimisation

overrides their genuine desire to share experiences and views. This is not

necessarily because the organizations and individuals do not want to provide

such information, but because it is not a part of the organizational culture to

voluntarily provide such information for public dissemination.

Lack of clear policies and procedures of INGO/NGO and government agencies are

yet another barrier. Some agencies explicitly prohibit their staff in posting

messages and opinions on e- forums and participating in discussions forums such

as . Although, many staff of such agencies are keen to participate on

the discussions, they lack the organizational structures and policies needed to

support such activities and to determine what documents to provide or what level

they could participate on the discussions.

It appears that the key stakeholders of AIDS related work in India are yet to

identify and harness the full potential of internet mediated communication.

There is also a growing appreciation of the fact that facilitating the use of

e-forums are a means of strategic management of information. A simple function

of providing an Internet access to AIDS service agencies, their staff, and to a

certain extent to their clients particularly based in villages and remote areas

would definitely enable them to seek and access required information. Even

though, most of the information is in English.

Internet mediated health communication provides great opportunities and

challenges. Additional efforts are needed to harness the power of Internet in

shaping the HIV/AIDS agenda in India. Necessary policy and procedural guidelines

are to be in place to enable greater utilisation of emerging social media.

The most rewarding experience of editing this form is when hear about how the

FORUM has been of use to the members. It various from subscribers getting

their job, through the job posting on the FORUM to updated information on ARV

treatments

" A friend of mine who is a PLHA was not responding to ARV. I came to know about

the 2 Line ART, through this FORUM "

" I used to recommend formula feeding for HIV +ve mothers. After the posting of

giving boiled expressed milk I changed my advice "

" It always keeps me updated. I feel relaxed and confident in my work as an HIV

program officer "

" I posted one message in AIDS India e-FORUM about the some of the problems

faced in our ART Centre. Within 10 days the 70% situation is rectified " .

A decade of journey!. It was exhilarating, addictive, frightening, seductive,

intellectually stimulating and path breaking.

Thank you to all the subscribers, contributors and well wishers. This FORUM

wouldn't have been possible without the help from all of you.

Joe

Editor, AIDS INDIA

AIDS Treatment/