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Changes proposed by Law Ministry are against PLHA
28th November 2008, New Delhi: A coalition of activists and organizations working on HIV has denounced the Law Ministry for its insensitive handling of the HIV/AIDS Bill. Changes proposed by the Law Ministry are seen to undermine rights of people living with HIV and go against the grain of the National AIDS Control Programme.
The HIV/AIDS bill was drafted in 2004 after wide ranging consultations with HIV positive people, vulnerable communities, women and childrens' groups, health care providers, employers and trade Unions, lawyers, civil society organizations, State AIDS Control societies and other concerned departments.
Backed by extensive research, it is one of the first bills in the history of independent India to be prepared with the participation of affected individuals and communities. The National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) endorsed it after receiving feedback from State Governments and other Ministries.
The Health Minister, Anbumani Ramadoss, has long supported the need for such a law. In September 2007, the Ministry of Health sent the HIV/AIDS Bill to the Ministry of Law and Justice for vetting. A year later, the Bill has been returned with substantive changes, which, the coalition claims "*detracts from the aims and objectives of the original proposal*". " *By deleting large parts of the original draft, the law ministry shows lack of respect for people's voices and views*" said Anjali Gopalan, who has been working on HIV for over two decades.
Raman Chawla, for Lawyers Collective -
U.N. warns against cuts to AIDS prevention programs
GENEVA (Reuters) - HIV infections could surge if countries pinched by the global financial crisis cut AIDS prevention programs, a United Nations agency said on Friday.
Paul De Lay, a senior official at UNAIDS, said that economic turmoil was a threat to development programs as cash-strapped governments start to pare back on international aid.
The world must maintain current assistance levels, he told a briefing before World AIDS Day on Monday.
"(Or) what we'll find in the next four or five years is a resurgence in new incident infections and we won't be able to scale up the treatment that is clearly going to be needed as more and more people become symptomatic and need access to drugs," he said.
An estimated 33 million people worldwide were living with the HIV virus, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, at the end of 2007. AIDS has killed 25 million since being identified in 1981.
An estimated 2.7 million people become infected each year.
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Action: WAD 2008: “I am HIV Positive” Campaign
This time around, we the R.E.A.C.H Team have decided to 'Be HIV Positive." Positive about awareness, positive about education, and positive about supporting and reaching out to people living with HIV and AIDS.
The "I am HIV Positive" campaign will be launched on the 1st of December 2008, to commemorate Worlds AIDS Day. The campaign will consist of many sub campaigns.
The details of the activities/sub campaigns that will take place on that day are as follows:
Positive about Education
'I am HIV Positive' is an awareness campaign that targets a total of about 2000 students of 50 schools all over Colombo. Of a team of 100 volunteers, two will be stationed at each school and an information desk will be set up. From this information desk, students will be able to collect informative material such as leaflets and pin-flags and put forward any queries relating to HIV and AIDS and have them answered. This will also be an opportunity for them to openly discuss what they feel about the epidemic and bring it out into the open. In addition to the above, on request, a presentation and discussion on HIV and AIDS will be conducted by our team for the students.
"I am HIV Positive" T-shirt
T-shirts with "I am HIV Positive" printed on them will be distributed to volunteers participating in this campaign and representatives from various organizations sharing similar goals as us. These t-shirts will help spread awareness by creating hype in workplaces, schools and around Colombo in general.
"We are HIV Positive" March
Participants and Volunteers wearing "I am HIV Positive" t-shirts, along with whoever that wishes to join in will march on the streets from Borella to Maradana waving themed flags and banners that communicate positive messages on HIV and AIDS to onlookers.
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Staying positive
At least once a year, Delhi pulls out its red ribbons, symbolising solidarity with HIV+ people and the fight against the epidemic itself. For the other 364 days, though, most of Indias estimated 2.5 million HIV+ people deal with the stigma of their condition without the support of the be-ribboned. So, this year, to mark the 20th World AIDS Day on December 1, the theme is Lead-Empower-Deliver - tying together the need to halt the spread of the disease with the need to provide treatment, care and support to those who suffer from it.
The World AIDS Campaign, Wake Up Pune and Delhis Naz Foundation (India) Trust are organising a series of events this fortnight, with the support of United Nations Population Fund and the Netherlands-based AIDS Fond (AIDS Fund). These events are targeted primarily at the youth because, as Anjali Gopalan, executive director of Naz told us over email, "In India and the world, youth are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS. Youth leadership is vital because the youth are the ones who will decide how HIV/AIDS is viewed in the future. We need to eliminate stigma and discrimination amongst the youth to ensure that future generations will not face the same discrimination as people living with HIV/AIDS do today."
In the run up to the event at Lal Chowk in Pragati Maidan, Naz is organising various street plays in places like Basant Lok in Vasant Vihar. On November 30, there is a mela as well as a concert to look forward to in Lal Chowk. Nazs peer educators, who are students from the University of Delhi, will set up a stall at the mela, where they will distribute brochures, provide information on HIV/AIDS and answer questions. There will also be "educational games" at the stall, aimed at dispelling myths and misconceptions surrounding HIV/AIDS and sexuality.
Meanwhile, a VJ from MTV will welcome the audience and invite local university bands on to the stage. Their act will be followed by a concert by Delhi band Advaita. Gopalan told us that events like this, with well-known names, ensure that HIV/AIDS "is no longer taboo or hidden away" and help in awareness generation. Besides, when young people assist in organising the event, they feel a greater sense of ownership. "Even though my contribution may be small, I have found immense satisfaction in what I do. This programme could probably be the key to a much bigger change," said Namita Sivashankaran, a Naz peer educator, about her work with Naz.
Radhika Arora, for Time Out Delhi -
Papuans with HIV/AIDS to get microchips
PAPUA (The Jakarta Post) - Amid protests from Papuans and NGOs, the Papua provincial legislative council is set to pass a bylaw on HIV/AIDS that includes a controversial article requiring certain people living with the disease to be implanted with a microchip.
"If the draft bylaw is passed, it will violate the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS because they will be implanted with microchips," said Constan Karma, executive director of the Papua AIDS Commission (KPAD).
Councilor John Manangsang said the microchips would only be implanted in people living with HIV/AIDS who were deemed to be "aggressive".
"Aggressive means actively seeking sexual intercourse. This is one way to protect healthy people," he said.
"Do not misunderstand human rights; if we respect the rights of the people living with HIV/AIDS, then we must also respect the rights of healthy people."
He said the public should judge the bylaw draft as a whole rather than by its constituent articles. "The draft, for example, requires everyone to take HIV/AIDS tests so that preventative measures can be taken early on," he said.
Angel Flassy, for The Jakarta Post -
NACO pulled up for substandard HIV kits in country
NEW DELHI: 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".
DNA Now -
ICC celebrates fifth anniversary of HIV/AIDS partnership
Dubai: The International Cricket Council (ICC) will celebrate five years of raising awareness and reducing the stigma of HIV by running a series of activities to mark World AIDS Day on December 1.
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 statement said.
Since 2003, when it became the first international sports organisation to form a partnership with UNAIDS, the ICC has also worked with United Nations agencies and non-governmental organisations including UNICEF and the Global Media AIDS Initiative (GMAI), to deliver a variety of activities aimed at raising awareness of HIV/AIDS.
Highlights of the partnership have included such profile-raising initiatives as running public service announcements featuring some of the worlds leading players including Graeme Smith, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahendra Singh Dhoni; player visits to schools and orphanages at ICC events; and an HIV-positive individual tossing the coin before the start of the Pakistan-India Test series in Rawalpindi in 2004.
Such was the level of support in 2007 at the ICC Cricket World Cup in the West Indies and ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa, 24 separate player visits to community projects took place, illustrating the enormous player support that the ICCs partnership on HIV/AIDS receives.
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MSF warns Indian govt of developed countries’ attempt to trap generics under counterfeit drugs
The far cry against the WHO's attempt to give a new definition to counterfeit drugs is mounting day by day. Close on the heels of the Indian industry expressing concern over the WHO proposal, an international humanitarian medical aid organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has urged the Indian government to keep away from the developed countries' deliberate attempt to confuse the two totally different issues of substandard drugs and counterfeit drugs which is designed to trap the legally manufactured generic drugs from developing countries under the definition of counterfeiting.
"By confusing the issues of counterfeit medicines and substandard medicines, WHO and governments are attacking the wrong problem, which does nothing to improve the quality of medicines, which is a far greater public health concern. Counterfeit is a trademark and IPR issue that should not be confused with quality issues," MSF's project manager for India Leena Menghaney said.
In a letter to Union health minister Dr Anbumani Ramadoss, the MSF urged the Indian government to project a true picture in this regard at the forthcoming international meeting called by IMPACT of the WHO on giving new definition to counterfeit drugs. India's role at these negotiations will strengthen negotiations by developing countries to prevent such trade barriers from being created.
DCGI Dr Surinder Singh and joint secretary in the Union health ministry Debashish Panda are scheduled to attend the meeting to be held in Germany on November 24 and 25.
Ramesh Shanker, for Pharmabiz.com -
In Transit – India has time to reverse its HIV epidemic: expert
INDIA SHOULD use its legendary IT skills to drive its health sector programmes, including HIV/AIDS information and treatment. "The world learned from India when its pharma companies saved over 3.5 million people from sure death by providing affordable AIDS medicine. India should similarly use its IT skills for its own health sector and ensure everyone everywhere has access to information and healthcare facilities," said Jeffery O'Malley, director, HIV/AIDS group, Bureau of Development Policy, UNDP, in an exclusive to Hindustan Times.
India still has time to reverse its HIV epidemic, with states already showing results. IV prevalence in the general population in Maharashtra dropped from 0.80 per cent to 0.74 per cent in 200506, and in Tamil Nadu, from 0.47 per cent to 0.39 per cent. "Unlike in Africa, HIV infection in India is driven by a small identifiable proportion of the popula- tion-female sex workers, migrants, injecting drug users and MSMs-and working with them is very effective," said O'Malley.
India has 2.5 million people living with HIV, with infection being a high 5.69 per cent among Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) and 5.38 percent Female Sex Workers (FSWs). Most government programmes target female sex workers and their clients through condom promotion and information campaigns.
Issues related to gay rights have been a real disaster in India, as in the rest of the world, said O'Malley.
"Governments the world over find it easier to talk about female sex workers than men who have sex with men. Even when the Gates Foundation started HIV interventions in India, the focused on female sex workers and injecting drug users. To their credit, they now work with men who have sex with men (MSMs), though it's mostly with commercial MSMs. While infection is reversing in sex workers in states like Tamil Nadeu and Andhra, it is increasing among MSMs across the country," he said.
© 2008 Wake Up Pune.
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