-
NACO releases revised sex education manual
It has taken two years for the National Aids Control Organization or NACO to bring out a revised sex education manual after major flaws were reported in the earlier one. But despite the long delayed revisions huge shortcomings still remain.
Sakshi Sharma a student of Delhi's Veer Savarkar Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya has just turned fourteen and like many of her classmates has questions about sex.
She thinks the internet may help her with sex education chapters that the government wants to introduce in schools by the end of this year.
"Since the diagrams have been deleted, we may have to depend upon external sources for information. But there, nobody will be able to tell us what is right or wrong," said Sakshi.
Sonia Sarkar, for NDTV.com
-
Trial of anti-AIDS vaccine in Chennai lab a success
CHENNAI: India's HIV vaccine programme got a major boost with scientists of the Tuberculosis Research Centre (TRC) here reporting significant progress in the first phase of clinical trials for a vaccine to prevent AIDS.
Preliminary results of phase one trial have successfully proved the vaccine's safety and its ability to stimulate immune response (that might provide protection against infection), the centre's head told TOI.
Confirming the development, TRC director V D Ramanathan said: "The trial was to check the vaccines safety and also whether it fulfilled the secondary objective of stimulating immune response. We will announce the results to the world soon after we have the complete analysis of the data."
TRC is affiliated to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), which, along with National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), has spearheaded the vaccine trial in India.
Jaya Menon, for TNN -
India’s fight against AIDS to focus on gays
MEXICO CITY: Men who have sex with men (MSMs) are posing to be India's greatest challenge in its fight against AIDS.
An alarming increase in the number of gay men and a tremendous spike in the prevalence of HIV within this community has now made the country's National AIDS Control Organisation (Naco) decide to increase prevention interventions for this community by almost six times by the end of 2008.
Naco estimates that India is home to 2.5 million MSMs of which 100,000 are at high risk of contracting HIV due to multi-partner and commercial sexual practices. Already, 15% of this community have got infected with the deadly disease. The worlds top political leaders and scientists, attending the International AIDS Conference here, including Ban Ki-Moon, Margaret Chan, Peter Piot and presidents from Africa and Latin America, have all called upon governments to immediately target and control the epidemic among MSMs.
Scientific evidence presented at the conference said MSMs were 19 times more likely to be infected with HIV than the general population. A report launched by the American Foundation for AIDS Research studied 128 country reports and found that nearly half (44%) failed to provide any data on MSMs.
Kountenya Sinha, for TNN -
Legalise homosexuality: Ramadoss
MEXICO CITY: The gay community in India, fighting for social and legal acceptance, has found a friend in no less a person than Union health minister A Ramadoss, who assured them of all help in legalising homosexuality in the country.
Addressing a 250-strong India session at the International AIDS Conference here on Thursday, he strongly campaigned for the changing the law which makes homosexuality illegal. "Section 377 of IPC, which criminalizes men who have sex with men, must go," he said, at the risk of inviting a political reaction back home.
Under the IPC, sex between two men is considered "against the order of nature". Ramadoss's comments came a day after TOI reported how men who have sex with men (MSMs) were posing to be India's greatest challenge in its fight against AIDS.
National Aids Control Organization (NACO) estimates that India is home to 2.5 million MSMs of which 100,000 are at high risk of contracting HIV due to multi-partner and commercial sexual practices. Already, 15% of this community have got infected with the deadly disease.
Kountenya Sinha, for TNN
-
Indian Church shares experience at global AIDS meet
NEW DELHI (ICNS): Indian Church representatives attending the international AIDS conference have show-cased their work in India as a global example for fighting the dreaded disease.
The Aug.3-8 International AIDS Conference in Mexico city has several Indian representatives including Archbishop Bernard Moras, chairperson of Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI) Commission for Health and Father Alex Vadakumathala, the commission's secretary.
Archbishop Moras, Monsignor Bob Vitillo of Caritas Internationalis and Father Vadakumthala, presented the lessons learned and best practices of the Catholic Church in India.
They highlighted the collaboration with funding agencies, regional health structures and state governments in facilitating access to care and support.
The Indian Catholic
-
Gujarat parents try to burn HIV+ son
SURAT: Narendra Dholi, a 17-year-old fisherman from a small fishing village in Valsad's Umbergaon taluka, would have been languishing in a Pakistan jail for years after he was caught in the waters of the neighbouring country earlier this year. But, jail authorities found out that he was HIV positive and promptly shipped him back to India.
However, instead of rejoicing, Narendra regrets his freedom today. In the last two months, he has been ostracised, beaten up on a number of occasions and subjected to harassment by his parents, who consider HIV God's curse on evil souls.
Two days ago, Narendra's father Uttam Dholi tried to set him ablaze by sprinkling kerosene on him when he was sleeping at night. But he woke up just in time and saved himself.
Melvyn Thomas, for TNN -
Dr. Ramadoss addresses delegates at 17th International AIDS Conference in Mexico
"ENABLING ENVIRONMENT THAT CAN ENSURE HIV PREVENTION SERVICES FOR ALL WHO NEED THEM IS KEY TO OVERCOMING THE HIV EPIDEMIC," SAYS HEALTH MINISTER.
"Indias dedicated focus on HIV prevention is fetching dividends. We are seeing the beginning of the stabilization of the HIV epidemic in India," said Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss, Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. He was addressing experts and delegates at the17th International Conference on AIDS in Mexico City. "We must not be complacent, however," he cautioned, stressing that "the key to overcoming the HIV epidemic is to take HIV services to those on the margins of society and we can only do that in an enabling environment."
Indias targeted HIV intervention approach which relies on strong community participation has resulted in larger numbers of people accessing HIV prevention, treatment and care services. Responding to questions from the delegates, the Minister expressed his strong support for the draft legislation on HIV which is currently being whetted by the Law Ministry. "Structural discrimination against those who are vulnerable to HIV such as sex workers and MSM must be removed if our prevention, care and treatment programs are to succeed," he said. "Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalizes Men who have sex with Men, must go."
Press Information Bureau -
HIV testing: India ranked best, Russia worst
The Lancet study compared data from several clinics in each country to calculate the cost-effectiveness and quality of services provided
New Delhi: India topped the list of five mid-income countries that provide free HIV testing and counselling to people, reported the scientific journal 'The Lancet'. The unexpected pat on the back came after a comparison of testing and counselling facilities in India, Russia, Mexico, Uganda and South Africa that showed India's was not only the cheapest but also the most cost-effective. Russia did the worst.
The Lancet study compared data from several clinics in each country to calculate the cost-effectiveness and quality of services provided. "India and Russia represent the two extremes in terms of implementation performance, with the quality of services being similar in almost all centers surveyed in India. The difference between quality in different clinics was the highest in Russia," said lead author Dr. Stefano M. Bertozzi from the National Institute of Public Health, presenting the data at the XVII International AIDS Conference on Tuesday.
India's programme, run by the National AIDS Control Organisation, is also the most cost effective, costing the government US$ 3 (Rs 120) per person. The cost was as high as US$ 1,000 in some centres in Russia.
MSN
-
India to Provide Jobs and Food Rations to AIDS Patients
The federal government in India is proposing to offer jobs and food rations to AIDS patients.
The government told the Supreme Court Tuesday that it would offer jobs under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. The act is essentially aimed at guaranteeing unskilled manual jobs for one hundreds in a year for rural households.
Though wages are paltry, still the scheme is hailed as some positive attempt at bettering the lot of the rural poor. Now the government is saying it would extend the scheme to HIV/AIDS-infected too.
Also one lakh people receiving anti-retroviral therapy (ART) at 174 centres across the country, would be treated as belonging to the below poverty line (BPL) category, ensuring them 35 kg of foodgrain every month under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY).
These promises were part of the 19-point proposal submitted to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, by way of affirming the governments commitment to bettering the lives of HIV positive people.
MedIndia.com
© 2008 Wake Up Pune.
Articles are copyright of their respective authors.
'Paragrams' by WPSHOWER
