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New guidelines for HIV/AIDS reporting
New Delhi: The Press Council of India has issued a new set of media guidelines for reporting within India on people suffering from HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) and AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), revising a set of guidelines compiled in 1993.
The guidelines, released on Sunday, are likely to be controversial as they impose a whole host of content behaviours, both in print and television, including words that can't be used, as well as impose restrictions, such as the need for a signed prior-consent form on reporting about HIV-positive people.
The council is an autonomous statutory body set up with the objective of preserving freedom of the press as well as to keep a check on the news gathering and reporting practices of newspapers and agencies in India.
Because its decisions cannot be challenged in any court of law, the council has power even if it is widely seen as not being very effective in either policing or altering journalistic practices in India.
The guidelines, devised in association with UNAIDS, the United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS, came out on 16 November and lay down certain dos and donts, potentially giving clarity on diverse issues such as how to photograph or interview a person infected with HIV or AIDS. The guidelines also redefined certain terminologies in reporting on the subject.
For starters, the council has mandated that HIV and AIDS are not interchangeable.
"Being a syndrome or a collection of symptoms, AIDS cannot itself be transmitted, nor is there an AIDS virus or AIDS carrier," say the guidelines. They maintain that terms such as "prostitutes" and "gays" used while referring to high risk groups should be replaced with "sex workers" and "men having sex with men", respectively.
The guidelines maintain that HIV cannot be termed a "scourge" and expressions such as "full-blown AIDS", which are often used to denote the progression of the infection, are misleading and meaningless because there are no degrees of AIDS, as a person either has or does not have AIDS.
Taru Bahl, for Livemint.com -
Peter Piot to Maharashtra CM: Lead HIV response
Mumbai, 11 Nov, 2008: UNAIDS Executive Director and Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations, Dr. Peter Piot has exhorted Maharashtra Chief Minister, Mr. Vilas Rao Deshmukh, to provide personal leadership to the HIV response in the state.
At a meeting in Mumbai, Dr. Piot congratulated the Chief Minister on the formation of the Maharashtra Legislators Forum on AIDS but stressed the need to strengthen it by creating a Secretariat. He also assured him of UNAIDS technical assistance and support in this endeavour.
While expressing his appreciation at the formation of a State AIDS Council in Maharashtra, Dr Piot also stressed that it should meet regularly and direct the HIV response. The meeting was also attended by Mr. Suresh Shetty, State Minister for Medical Education and the Additional Chief Secretary to the Govt, of Maharashtra, Mrs Chandra Iyengar.
UNAIDS -
Injecting drugs threaten India’s AIDS fight – UN
NEW DELHI, Nov 13 (Reuters) - HIV/AIDS infections will spread like "bushfire" in parts of India if the country fails to check a spike in the number of intravenous drug users, the United Nations AIDS agency said on Thursday.
India has the world's third highest caseload with 2.5 million infections. It has an estimated 200,000 intravenous drug users, many of whom are in the remote northeast region which borders the opium-producing Golden Triangle of Myanmar, Thailand and Laos.
"If we don't prevent new infections in new emerging populations like injecting drug users, it can go up as bushfires. We may see a major surge in infections," Peter Piot, the executive director of UNAIDS, said.
He also raised concerns about the spread of drugs in India. "Drug use is moving a bit everywhere, we can see it in Bihar, UP (Uttar Pradesh) and in Kashmir, it is kind of moving across the northern part of the country," Peter Piot, head of UNAIDS told Reuters.
Bappa Majumdar, for AlertNet.org -
HIV-positive travelers challenge countries with ‘no entry’ policy
When HIV-positive Winnie Sseruma was invited to speak on the subject at the United Nations in New York last June, she never expected that her condition would prevent her from obtaining a visa. HIV positive Winnie Sseruma was repeatedly questioned before being allowed into the U.S.
Winnie Sseruma has been living with the disease for over 20 years. Preparing for her trip, UK-based Winnie discovered that the United States was one of 70 countries worldwide that either banned or restricted inbound travel for people with HIV.
"I was told I needed to come to the U.S. embassy for an interview and bring a doctor's letter stating I was fit to travel," Sseruma, HIV coordinator for charity Christian Aid, told CNN.
"At first, the embassy told me that the first available appointment for my interview would be at a date past the U.N. High-level Meeting I was meant to attend."
Only when the U.N. intervened on Sseruma's behalf was she granted an earlier interview date.
Sseruma was relieved when she finally received her visa on time. But the hurdles were far from over. At the airport in New York, Sseruma was detained twice for further questioning.
"It was so humiliating," Sseruma said. "The immigration officers were asking me very personal questions about my health."
A month after Sseruma's ordeal, the U.S. Senate passed the re-authorization of President Bush's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), including an amendment to the ban on travel and immigration for HIV-positive non-citizens.
But the United States travel ban still remains in effect, and will continue to be the law until the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) modifies its regulations. Fifty-eight Members of Congress have sent a letter to the HHS, urging them to take action.
Anouk Lorie, for CNN.com
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Condom ringtone, ads push sales in India
NEW DELHI-A media campaign featuring a mobile phone ringtone that sings "condom condom" has pushed up sale of the contraceptive by 85 million in six months, India's AIDS control body said Friday.
The campaign, which included television and radio advertisements, reached 150 million men, especially migrant workers who frequent sex workers.
"There are still huge problems in promoting condom usage. Sex workers tell us that men would rather pay more than use a condom," Sujatha Rao, the chief of National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), told reporters.
India has an estimated 2.5 million people living with HIV, according to the United Nations.
Health officials are targeting sales of three billion condoms annually by 2010 from the current 1.7 billion as well as the use of female condoms by improving the retail network.
"Our biggest barrier is the lack of a proper marketing network," NACO's Rao said.
Inquirer.net
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Information Technology and AIDS Epidemic
In Transit - India has time to reverse its HIV epidemic:
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.
With California voting to ban same-sex marriages through a referendum that circumvents its own Supreme Court ruling in May that legalised same-sex marriages, discriminating laws exist against MSMs are many countries. "The HIV epidemic among MSMS will go underground unless legal and social issues related MSM are not addressed," he said.
AIDS in India
People with HIV and AIDS: 2.5 Million
Men: 61%
Women: 39%
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India’s crackdown on a sexual menace
Under rightwing and leftwing governments alike, India has prided itself on its status as the world's largest democracy. Civic freedoms, an independent judiciary, and basic political rights for citizens are part of that promise. But in India and far too many other democracies, rights that are arguably even more basic - to be who you are, to live freely in your body, even to call yourself a citizen if society despises you - are a different matter.
Early on October 20, Bangalore police arrested five hijras - a traditional cultural identity for working-class transgender people who, born as men, identify as women. Such arrests are sadly routine. Throughout India, many hijras cannot get identity papers: the state will not let them change their legal sex and denies them IDs if their appearance does not match their birth gender. As a result, they often cannot work, go to school, find jobs, vote, or even move around freely. Social prejudice against "men" or "women" who are not "masculine" or "feminine" enough makes them ready victims of violence.
Denied viable opportunities for work, hijras are forced to resort to begging or demanding goodwill funds during marriage or birth celebrations. That way of life has been part of several regional Indian cultures, where blessings of a hijra were considered a good omen. But as these traditions erode, many hijras have had to survive as street beggars or sex workers. In both cases, police slap them with fines, jail them, sometimes physically or sexually abuse them.
But on October 20, the five hijras, who were apparently begging but not soliciting sex, were charged with "extortion" - a crime which, unlike begging, allowed the police to hold them without bail.
In India's vibrant civil society, a growing number of NGOs support the sexually - as well as politically and economically - disenfranchised. A crisis intervention team from the Bangalore-based organisation Sangama, which works to protect and advance the rights of sexual minorities, arrived at the police station to help. The group is trained to assist hijras in fending off barrages of minor charges. But this time, the police jailed the five members of the crisis intervention team as well, beating and sexually abusing some of them.
Dipika Nath, for guardian.co.uk
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Civil society protests police violence against hijras and human rights defenders
In response to the call for a national day of action by the Campaign for Sex Workers and Sexual Minorities Rights,community groups and civil society organizations ( Sahara Transgender Project, Delhi Network of Positive People, Naz Foundation (India) Trust, Savera, Voices Against 377, Breakthrough, Sharan and Youth Parliament and Lawyers Collective) in Delhi staged a dharna at Karnataka Bhavan to protest against the police excesses against hijras and human rights activists in Bengaluru.
A hundred people including transgenders, kothis, people living with HIV and other rights activists, gathered outside Karnataka Bhavan at Chankyapuri, shouting slogans and demanding action against erring officials.
Two transgenders - Dilfaraz and Savitha who were abused in the incident in Bengaluru were also present.
On 20th October, Bengaluru Police arrested 42 persons including hijras, kothis and human rights activists on charges of unlawful assembly, rioting and obstructing government officials in performing their duty.
All 42 were kept in police custody for 2 days. Many detainees were beaten and sexually violated. They were released on bail on 22 October 2008.
After the protest, a delegation met the Resident Commissioner - Mr. Arvind Risbund and handed over a memorandum demanding:
Lawyers Collective -
Being HIV-positive
Ed. Note: Aleefia Somji is a member of "Wake Up Pune."
Many of you may have seen me with a big black T-shirt screaming the words "HIV-POSITIVE" on it. Some of you have given me dirty looks and others have exclaimed, "But Aleefia, you're not HIV-positive!" "No? Maybe I am. What does an HIV-positive person look like?" "Oh, they must be a slum dweller, or they're definitely a slut." And there we have it: the stigma and discrimination that surrounds HIV/AIDS. In many places people are still unaware that there are four stages of HIV; AIDS is the fourth and fatal. Today, you can live with HIV. I had dinner with a 42-year old man who was HIV-positive, married and had four children-all HIV-negative. In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) has deemed HIV a chronic condition, much like diabetes. Sadly enough this is not the case in India. Stigma kills.
There are numerous articles where families have been excommunicated and considered "untouchable." There are cases where children who are HIV-positive are blamed for their parents' actions. They are often punished, and in some cases even burned. This does not have to be the case. So Wake Up Pune was founded.
Wake Up Pune (www.wakeuppune.org) is an organization comprised of non-governmental organizations, companies and interested individuals working to create awareness and reduce stigma and discrimination surrounding HIV/AIDS.
Aleefia Somji, for Mount Holyoke News
© 2008 Wake Up Pune.
Articles are copyright of their respective authors.
'Paragrams' by WPSHOWER
