********************************************************** SAATHII Electronic News Letter HIV NEWS FROM INDIA SOURCE: The Times of India, www.kanglaonline.com, www.dnaindia.com, www.ibnlive.com, The Hindu, www.centralchronicle.com, The Hindustan Times, www.medindia.net, www.assamtribune.com and The Pune Newsline. Posted on: 04/08/2007 COMPILED BY: Randhir Kumar, B. Vilasini, and L. Ramakrishnan SAATHII Chennai office. Note: this compilation contains news items about HIV/AIDS published in the Indian media, as well as articles relevant to HIV/AIDS in India published internationally. Articles in this and previous newsletters may also be accessed at http://www.saathii.org/orc/elibrary =============================================================== 1. NRI scientist wants NACO chief to apologise.(Kolkata) The Times of India, July 14, 2007. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Indians_Overseas/NRI_scientist_wants_NACO_chief_to_apologise/articleshow/2201431.cms 2. HIV/AIDS Bill likely to be introduced in monsoon session of Parliament.(Imphal) www.kanglaonline.com, July 16, 2007. http://www.kanglaonline.com/index.php?template=headline&newsid=38615&typeid=1 3. NACO wants docs to be trained for treating HIV-positive.(New Delhi) www.dnaindia.com, July 17, 2007. http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1109987 4. AIDS fund up five-fold, yet it's raw deal for India's HIV-infected.(New Delhi) www.ibnlive.com, July 17, 2007. http://www.ibnlive.com/news/aids-fund-up-fivefold-yet-its-raw-deal-for-indias-hivinfected/45047-3.html 5. NACO to review sex education module.(New Delhi) The Hindu, July 17, 2007. http://www.hindu.com/2007/07/18/stories/2007071862111200.htm 6. AIDS- India not the 'epicentre'.(Bhopal) www.centralchronicle.com, July 18, 2007. http://www.centralchronicle.com/20070718/1807302.htm 7. 'We'll make condoms more accessible'.(New Delhi) The Hindustan Times, July 19, 2007. http://www.hindustantimes.com/Redir.aspx?ID=0b3b9e19-3e05-4240-bdc5-af7bca5462d3 8. India Plans Hospices for HIV Positive Women.(New Delhi) www.medindia.net, July 20, 2007. http://www.medindia.net/news/India-Plans-Hospices-for-HIV-Positive-Women-23705-1.htm 9. State AIDS patients face harrowing time.(New Delhi) www.assamtribune.com, July 20, 2007. http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=jul2007/at09 10. Campaign to help access treatment in ART centres.(Pune) The Pune Newsline, July 21, 2007. http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=246884 11. National Authority to regulate blood collection to be set up.(New Delhi) The Hindu, July 23, 2007. http://www.hindu.com/2007/07/23/stories/2007072356081300.htm 12. Delhi shies away from explicit course material.(New Delhi) The Hindustan Times, July 23, 2007. http://www.hindustantimes.com/Redir.aspx?ID=73af0adf-389d-4f43-b6cb-d94dd3fa6574 =============================================================== 1. NRI scientist wants NACO chief to apologise.(Kolkata) The Times of India, July 14, 2007. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Indians_Overseas/NRI_scientist_wants_NACO_chief_to_apologise/articleshow/2201431.cms Kolkata: NRI scientist wants NACO chief to apologise. Indian American researcher Kunal Saha has demanded an apology from the chief of India's nodal AIDS body after the latter questioned his credibility as an investigator for a World Bank probe into HIV testing kits. Saha has found in the probe that HIV testing medical kits supplied by India's National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) were defective. But NACO director general K. Sujata Rao has reportedly said, "This investigator has no credibility". Saha said that he had obtained the World Bank permission's to expose the scam of "the bogus HIV testing kits supplied by NACO and used by hospitals across India". In a letter to Rao, he says: "I am writing this letter seeking an unconditional apology for making the baseless and slanderous allegations against me, which has undoubtedly tarnished my professional as well as personal image before the public at large." Saha is known for his crusade against the medical fraternity in India after his wife's death from alleged wrong treatment. In the letter to Rao, he says: "It has come to my notice that you have publicly expressed overtly caustic remarks about my professional integrity in relation to my role as a medical consultant in a recent World Bank investigation of complaints of corruption and fraud in the distribution of sub-standard/defective HIV-test kits in India. "In an article entitled, 'HIV-testing centers using bad kits - researcher', which was published in the 12th July, 2007 issue of the Hindustan Times, you have made a categorical comment, 'This investigator has no credibility', in regard to my position with the investigation by the World Bank. "I am a 'dual-citizen' of India and have been involved with the study of HIV/AIDS in top academic institutions across USA for the past more than two decades. "I am also the founding-president of the 'People for Better Treatment' (PBT), a humanitarian society established to help the defenceless victims of medical negligence and to promote better healthcare in India," Saha writes. He said his standing as a bona fide HIV/AIDS scientist would be evidently clear from his distinguished academic and research accomplishments." "It is truly regrettable to observe that in spite of holding the highest position in the government hierarchy of AIDS control in India, you did not hesitate to stoop down to this level and publicly charge a reputed international HIV scientist of Indian origin that he has 'no credibility'. "Needless to say, I am deeply hurt with your scathing remarks about my scientific status and professional credibility," he said. Saha, a researcher based in Columbus, Ohio, was appointed by the World Bank to investigate allegations of sub-standard HIV testing kits being distributed in India. Saha said he and other members of the World Bank team discovered that there was "fraud" in distribution of HIV testing kits that has put Indian patients in serious danger of contracting AIDS from contaminated blood. =============================================================== 2. HIV/AIDS Bill likely to be introduced in monsoon session of Parliament.(Imphal) www.kanglaonline.com, July 16, 2007. http://www.kanglaonline.com/index.php?template=headline&newsid=38615&typeid=1 Imphal: HIV/AIDS Bill likely to be introduced in monsoon session of Parliament. A two days workshop on legal issues, rights and HIV/AIDS with special reference to HIV/AIDS Bill 2007 and issues relating to Injecting Drug Users IDUs began today at Hotel Nirmala. This workshop is being organized by the Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit (LCHAU). Speaking about the workshop, Anand Grover, founder of the Lawyers Collective and director of the HIV/AIDS Unit, said, "The draft HIV/AIDS Bill 2007 was prepared by Lawyers Collective. This Bill is currently with the law ministry and after it comes back from the ministry, it might be introduced in the monsoon session of the Parliament." It may be recalled that in 2002, LCHAU was requested by an advisory working group comprising government and civil society and chaired by the Project Director of NACO to draft legislation on HIV/AIDS. The HIV/AIDS Bill 2007, which is based on in-depth research and extensive community consultations at the national and regional level with all stakeholders including persons living with HIV/AIDS, vulnerable communities, healthcare providers, women, children, NGOs, etc, was drafted and submitted to NACO in August 2006. Legal officer of Lawyers Collective Shivangi said that an HIV/AIDS Act is necessitated since the fundamental laws of the country are not applicable to the private sector. She said, "This Bill is primarily an anti-discriminatory law aiming at enabling speedy trials and protecting the rights of the vulnerable population." Secretary of Manipur Network of Positive People Kh Bobby said, "The workshop is being held with representatives from PLHA networks and NGOs of the northeastern states to incorporate the issues of HIV/AIDS that are specific to this region in the draft Bill." On the last day of the workshop, there will be presentations and discussions on drug use, law and HIV; interface between law, policy and harm reduction; access to treatment and IDUs and protecting civil rights of drug users. =============================================================== 3. NACO wants docs to be trained for treating HIV-positive.(New Delhi) www.dnaindia.com, July 17, 2007. http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1109987 New Delhi: NACO wants docs to be trained for treating HIV-positive. In the wake of reports of doctors refusing to provide medical care to people living with HIV- AIDS, NACO now wants physicians to undergo mandatory training to treat such patients. "We will soon make it compulsory for doctors to undergo training on how to treat people infected with HIV-AIDS," said National AIDS ontrol Organisation (NACO) Director General Sujatha Rao. The decision came in the wake of a recent incident at Meerut Medical College Hospital, where two doctors reportedly refused to help a pregnant woman deliver her baby because she was HIV-positive and instead asked her husband to do the job,Rao said. The training was optional so far, she noted. NACO is organising a meeting on this issue on August two. Rao said the organisation is trying to make the training compulsory for both private and government doctors. "Right now, we do not have any jurisdiction over private doctors. But we want both government and private doctors to compulsorily undergo this training," she said. NACO hopes the training for the medical fraternity will come into effect within three months. "We are hopeful that we will be able to make this training mandatory within two to three months at least for government doctors," Rao said. According to revised government estimates, India has an estimated 2.47 million people infected with HIV. The government plans to soon introduce a bill that will make discrimination against HIV-positive a punishable offence. =============================================================== 4. AIDS fund up five-fold, yet it's raw deal for India's HIV-infected.(New Delhi) www.ibnlive.com, July 17, 2007. http://www.ibnlive.com/news/aids-fund-up-fivefold-yet-its-raw-deal-for-indias-hivinfected/45047-3.html New Delhi: AIDS fund up five-fold, but HIV-infected get raw deal. Shakil's parents threw him out of his house three years ago. Dev has had three doctors refusing him basic treatment. Both are living with HIV for years now. The Government of India has upped funding to its AIDS control programme five fold to Rs 11,000 crore this year. But the government plans to spend most of this money on prevention measures and seems to have turned its back on those who are already living with the virus. "There is so much money coming in. If it could be used properly, then all those who are infected could be looked after well," says Shakil. Shakil and Dev are currently on the first line of anti-AIDS treatment that they get free of cost at government hospitals. But they dread the time they'll have to switch over to the next level of treatment, which they will have to buy on their own. It costs about Rs 10,000 a month. More than 75 per cent of the AIDS fund will be used on prevention measures, like safer blood policy and better marketing for condoms. But the exact spending on the care and treatment for those who have already contracted the disease is unclear. "We have done nothing for a better blood policy and we are doing nothing for the children who are living with HIV or are orphans," Anjali Gopalan of Naz Foundation points out. There are about 2.5 million people living with HIV in India. The government is now focusing on high-risk groups like sex workers, truck drivers and injecting drug users. The plan is to stop the disease at the base level so that it doesn't spread to the general population. When a CNN-IBN team visited an AIDS intervention project for truckers in Delhi, where thousands of rupees is being spent, it was found that the authorities are using innovative ways to spread the message. But, unfortunately, most truckers don't even know the clinic exists. "No, I don't even know it exists," a trucker in the area told CNN-IBN when asked if he was aware of the clinic. The clinic spreads the AIDS message discretely without any mention of the word 'HIV'. It is a 'taboo' here and the mention of the word turns off truckers. The clinic instead asks truck drivers to be careful of sexually transmitted diseases. Condoms aren't distributed free here, they need to be bought. Neither does the clinic test anyone for HIV. About one-third of India's AIDS programme is funded by foreign agencies. But activists argue that the money is used to fund only a few favoured projects that don't really focus on care and treatment. "All the money is being used for prevention, prevention and more prevention. Nothing is coming to people who already have HIV/AIDS," Loon Gangte of Delhi Network of Positive People points out. Ramesh Venkataraman of ActionAid says: "Corporatisation of the epidemic is a hallmark of the way the AIDS policy is run in this country. It's being run by corporates and that is expected to make it work." Funding agencies, however, say prevention is where the money needs to be spent. "Most of our money is being used for high-risk groups and we are focusing on prevention, because that is where the fire is raging," Ashok Alexander of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation claims. =============================================================== 5. NACO to review sex education module.(New Delhi) The Hindu, July 17, 2007. http://www.hindu.com/2007/07/18/stories/2007071862111200.htm New Delhi: NACO to review sex education module. The National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) will shortly set up a task force to review its module on sex education. This follows protests in some States over the 'explicit' nature of education that was being imparted in the schools, based on the module prepared by the NACO and UNAIDS. At the launch of the National Women Forum, a wing of the Indian Network of People Living with HIV ? an NGO ? NACO Director-General Sujatha Rao said the task force would comprise academics, officials from the Union Human Resource Ministry, the Vidyasagar Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, New Delhi, and the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, and women activists who would review the module. The task force would be asked to submit its report in six months, she said. Ms. Sujatha Rao said that the 'explicit' material, to which there was objection from several quarters, was meant for teachers and not students. "It is disturbing that States are banning sex education but we want to have a consensus on the issue. There is no harm about taking a second opinion on our module but we want a clear message to go across," she said. Earlier, Minister of State for Women and Child Development Renuka Chowdhury said those who opposed sex education were 'hypocrites.' She said public figures and leaders should speak the language of the people so that they could clearly understand health issues, particularly HIV/AIDS. =============================================================== 6. AIDS- India not the 'epicentre'.(Bhopal) www.centralchronicle.com, July 18, 2007. http://www.centralchronicle.com/20070718/1807302.htm Bhopal: AIDS- India not the 'epicentre'. For all the efforts being made by the government and NGOs, AIDS awareness still remains low in the country. In the most vulnerable sections-the poor and the illiterate-more than half the women know nothing about AIDS. In a December 2006 radio interview with the BBC the former US President and AIDS campaigner, Bill Clinton, had famously described India as the 'epicentre' of AIDS pandemic. To bring down the incidence of HIV/AIDS infected population in India was a 'breathtaking challenge', he told the interviewer. He made his observation though only eight months earlier, in May 2006, the UN had announced that the dubious 'epicentre' was in the sub-Saharan Africa and that it is home to two-thirds of the worldwide infected population. Painting a grim picture of certain situations in India is not unexpected from Clinton, currently engaged in countering another 'breathtaking challenge'-that of first ensuring nomination of his wife as the Democratic candidate in preference to Obama and others and then getting her elected to the White House. During his last months as US president he used to describe Kashmir as the hottest flash point on earth, ready to spark off a nuclear war in the sub-continent that could engulf a wider region. To be fair to Clinton, he did mix his warning with some words of encouragement for India, asserting that he was sure that the country would show the same level of commitment and ingenuity in fighting AIDS as it did in developing information technology. How apt is the analogy is a different matter but his optimism may have come true much earlier than he or anyone else who shared his views would have believed. And the latest news from India on the AIDS front should also be seen in the light of previous reports that actually the rate at which the population was infected with AIDS might have peaked in the 1990s itself. That was the first encouraging sign in a quarter of a century.Based on a fresh UN-backed report, Union Health Minister, Anbumani Ramadoss has said that the number of people living with AIDS in India was now estimated to be between 2 and 3.1 million compared to the widely quoted previous estimates of over 5 million. The UN itself had put the figure at 5.7 million, which had placed India as the nation with the largest number of AIDS infected population, ahead of South Africa and Nigeria. The more gloomy estimates suggested that India may have a staggering 25 million AIDS infected in a few years time. That sounds very grim, as the current worldwide AIDS infected people number about 40 million. The UN made its estimates by using hundreds of surveillance centres to test blood samples of pregnant women and high-risk groups such as drug users over a period of four months. But the estimates had to be revised drastically when a new method was adopted for the estimates of the infected population. A total of 102,000 blood samples were taken from among the general public, instead of the specific groups, and tested for AIDS infection. This method is more representative of the population and is believed to yield more accurate information. The new figures push India into the third spot, behind South Africa and Nigeria. The level of prevalence of AIDS in the country of more than a billion people, earlier estimated to be 0.9 per cent of the population, is now taken to be 0.36 per cent. The drastic fall in the estimates, of course, does not allow any sense of complacency creeping in. Ramadoss himself said that the number was still large and 'this is very worrying for us'. He was entitled to expressing satisfaction over the fact that the 'disturbing' allegation made against India that it has been underestimating prevalence of HIV cases has turned out to be baseless. Lest India was still accused of issuing inaccurate figures, he added that the new estimates were 'reliable', calculated with the help of international agencies like the UN and the UN Agency for International Development. The downward revision of estimates augers well for the country at a time when it is launching a new and expanded phase of its AIDS control programme with increased funding. About 80,000 HIV positive patients are said to be receiving free drugs. The government plans to open 250 AIDS centres in another two years. By 2012, the government hopes to be able to test 42 million people for HIV virus. The Indian efforts come along with the pledge of generous monetary support to AIDS related programmes that the G-8 nations had made in their 2005 summit. The ultimate goal is and has to be universal access for HIV treatment. But the programme to control the spread of HIV will perhaps require a fine balance between both prevention and curative programmes. The former include propagation of 'safe sex' and the latter depends on greater availability of antiretroviral drugs to the infected persons, almost entirely belonging to the poorer sections of the society. For all the efforts being made by the government and NGOs, AIDS awareness still remains low in the country. In the most vulnerable sections-the poor and the illiterate-more than half the women know nothing about AIDs. There are reports that the AIDS cases in backward areas of north India may be rising. Another unfortunate aspect of this infection is the 'stigma' that the patients and even their children have to bear. Some doctors and hospitals continue to refuse to treat the AIDS patients and schools shun infected children. Such reports suggest that even the so-called educated sections do not know much about the dreaded disease the cure for which the world has been searching, at last with some success, for over 20 years. =============================================================== 7. 'We'll make condoms more accessible'.(New Delhi) The Hindustan Times, July 19, 2007. http://www.hindustantimes.com/Redir.aspx?ID=0b3b9e19-3e05-4240-bdc5-af7bca5462d3 New Delhi: When women and Child Development Minister Renuka Chowdhury said on Monday that women should carry condoms on their person and that protection should be made available to them 24/7, it wasn't just an off-the-cuff remark. The minister meant every word she said. She has now proposed that anganwadi workers carry condoms and an elderly woman in each village or locality be designated for condom distribution. The objective: to ensure women can buy condoms any time of the day. "It is not possible for women to buy condoms at night. There are only a few 24-hour pharmacies and most medical shops close by 10 p.m. So, the best way is to designate an elderly person who can be contacted when the condoms are needed," she told the Hindustan Times. Chowdhury said the idea was to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS from infected men to their wives, which is the case in many families across the country. "The best way to prevent such a situation is by ensuring women have condoms in their possession rather than them being dependent on their husbands." The move is part of the government's new initiative to make condoms more accessible, affordable and available in every nook and corner of the country. "Community participation can ensure that condoms are available at the doorstep in villages," Chowdhury said. The Ministry wants the additional duty for anganwadi workers to be incorporated in the restructured Integrated Child Development Scheme and is, with the Planning Commission, finalizing the new module of the scheme, to be launched later this year. Chowdhury said the government must ensure women's constitutional right to equality and ensuring they get contraceptives is one such right. The ministry and the National AIDS Control Authority will jointly implement the plan. The minister had on Monday created a flutter by saying that women should trust condoms more than their husbands, and suggested that they buy condoms themselves to protect themselves. =============================================================== 8. India Plans Hospices for HIV Positive Women.(New Delhi) www.medindia.net, July 20, 2007. http://www.medindia.net/news/India-Plans-Hospices-for-HIV-Positive-Women-23705-1.htm New Delhi: India Plans Hospices for HIV Positive Women. The Indian minister in charge of women's affairs has announced that the federal government is planning to set up hospices for HIV positive women. Minister for Women and Child Development Renuka Chowdhury said, "We plan to start hospices in villages for those women who are thrown out of their homes due to their HIV positive status. These women will be provided training so that they could be self-reliant." The hospices would be in villages so that the community takes care of the HIV positive women and their children, she said a couple of days ago in New Delhi, while launching National Women Forum, a women wing of the Indian Network of People Living with HIV, a non-governmental organization. Chowdhury also called upon women not to be embarassed about keeping condoms handy."Men cannot be trusted. A woman should not feel shy about keeping condoms with her. She is equally responsible for her health and she should be prepared for any kind of eventuality. Women is always more vulnerable," she noted. She also stressed that condoms were not for family planning, but meant as protection against sexually transmitted diseases and HIV. She also made a forceful plea for sex education in schools and denounced those opposing the idea as hypocrites. It is moral hypocrisy and just posturing on the part of those who are opposing it, " the minister said. "We have a one billion population and we don't want to talk about sex. We have to be vocal on such issues. If we don't, then it will affect the generations to come," she warned. =============================================================== 9. State AIDS patients face harrowing time.(New Delhi) www.assamtribune.com, July 20, 2007. http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=jul2007/at09 New Delhi: State AIDS patients face harrowing time. HIV + and AIDS patients in Assam are having to pass through harrowing times as the State's lone CD 4 machine suffers frequent breakdowns, convener of the National Women's Forum of Indian Network for People Living with HIV/AIDS (INP+), Jahnavi Goswami said. The State Government's inaction in not pressurising the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) appears curious. The Government spends crores on AIDS awareness campaigns but has no funds to buy the CD4 machine costing Rs 19-22 lakh. Assam has around 25,000 suspected HIV + cases, out of which 2000 are confirmed cases. NACO sanctions the machines on the basis of set criteria including recommendations of the State Government and rate of HIV prevalence cases, among others. Goswami, who hails from Assam, was today appointed as the convener of the Women's Forum launched on Monday last as part of the INP+. The National Women's Forum (NWF) has been set up to address the issues of HIV + women and children. The three-day 'Visioning Workshop' was joined by a host of Central Ministers and leaders including Rahul Gandhi, who interacted at length with the persons living with HIV. Union Minister of State Oscar Fernandes attended the three-day event inaugurated by Union Minister of Women and Child Welfare, Renuka Choudhury. Goswami said the healthcare scenario in Assam was grim because suspected HIV + and AIDS patients are suffering on account of the failure to install a second CD4 machine. The machine in Guwahati suffers frequent breakdowns leaving poor people who travels from distant places high and dry. The CD4 count is used to ascertain how far HIV disease has advanced and helps predict the risk of complications and debilitating infections. The CD4 count is used in combination with the viral load test, which measures the level of HIV in the blood, to determine the staging and outlook of the disease. The CD4 count is also used to identify possible health problems for which you may be at risk and to determine which medications might be helpful. Meanwhile, Goswami said the number of Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) Centres is inadequate for a State of the size of Assam. "We have 27 districts but have only two ART centres ? one each at Guwahati and Dibrugarh, which is inadequate," she said. On the level of discrimination towards HIV+ persons, Goswami, who has assumed the mantle of an activist, said it was still high with frequent reports of HIV+ people being denied employment, residential accommodation, their children being debarred from admission in schools. According to our surveys, there are 62 children whose parents are HIV+ and of these 10 are orphans. However, no orphanage would adopt them. After a long struggle, last month SOS Children's Village adopted four of these kids, who had nowhere to go, she said. The nature of problems in the North-east is slightly different from the rest of the country. In the region, the number of HIV+ people getting infected due to drug use (IDUs) is more than the rest of the country. In the NER, the women also face different problems. There are reports of a lot of women dying in Manipur because of the disease. The north-eastern States of Manipur and Nagaland along with Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka are among the States considered as high prevalent States. Goswami said their organisation has 55,000 women members living with HIV spread across 23 States and 109 districts. "We felt an ardent need to address the issues of women and children living with HIV, specifically, rights to equality, health, education, livelihood, sexual, reproductive, legal, financial, and be protected from violations and neglect," said Goswami. =============================================================== 10. Campaign to help access treatment in ART centres.(Pune) The Pune Newsline, July 21, 2007. http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=246884 Pune: Campaign to help access treatment in ART centres. THE Indian Network for People living with HIV/AIDS (INP+) has launched a campaign to promote access to treatment. With the government setting up over 100 Anti-Retroviral Treatment (ART) centres across the country, people living with HIV are yet unaware of the services. The INP+ will now create awareness among the PLHA regarding treatment options, re-infection and reproductive healthcare issues. INP+ is a national organisation for people living with HIV led by the people living with HIV themselves. It was set up in 1997 by 12 HIV positive people and is headquartered in Chennai. Today, it has more than 82,000 members from 22 states and 16 districts and its mission is to advocate issues related to people living with HIV. N Kumar, project manager of the the INP+ Access, Care and Treatment programme told Pune Newsline that the aim was to motivate vulnerable groups to come forward to know their HIV status. The campaign will run in 102 districts of six states including Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Manipur and Nagaland. Through the campaign, the district level networks of positive people will work with the local administration to promote access to treatment and services. This includes stakeholders such as the district collector, district AIDS advisory committee coordinators, deputy directors of health services, deputy director of tuberculosis, ART nodal medical officer, district rural development authority, legal cell and others. According to R Elango, president of the INP+, the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) has said there was a downward slide in the HIV figures for Tamil Nadu. However providing access to treatment and services to positive people remains a challenge due to stigma, lack of awareness and physical proximity to service. =============================================================== 11. Is ignorance really bliss?(New Delhi) The Deccan Herald,July 22, 2007. http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Jul222007/artic2007072114285.asp New Delhi: Is ignorance really bliss? What, according to our politicians will create "an immoral society"? and "destroy Indian culture?" Corruption? Communal riots? Religious intolerance? Bollywood movies? Actually, it is none of the above. The answer is, sex education in schools. It unites Murali Manohar Joshi with Laloo Prasad Yadav at the other end of the political spectrum. For Joshi, imparting sex education would ruin the system. Laloo, who might have had fewer than 11 children if he had been fortunate enough to have had sex education in his school - thinks "our entire culture will collapse." I also like the comment made by the Delhi BJP President Harsh Vardhan: "Foreign powers are trying to harm Indian culture indirectly through this curriculum and want to ruin the young generation." Wow! He also thinks that "Children will start engaging in sexual activities, ignoring their educational responsibilities. " Does this mean that teaching economics ought to be stopped in case students become stock market manipulators or that geography should be banned in case everybody flees to Dubai? The RSS, the self-appointed guardian of our morality has been active too, sending out letters warning teachers of arrest under sections 354 of the IPC (outraging the modesty of a woman) and 355 (dishonouring a person) if they teach "sex education". Many state governments oppose it as anti-social. Perhaps it is not our children who need education so much as the adults. This is confirmed by the tool-kit provided for teachers and developed by the Human Resource Development ministry and the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO). This is one of its suggestions: Blindfold the child and let him runs hs hands over all students and identify boys and girls by touching their body parts. Yes. That is how we propose to impart sex education. Suddenly the Joshis and the Laloos don't appear so foolish after all. A NACO official has been quoted as saying that the material had to be tailored for local needs. "We have supplied the tool-kits and it is for the states and teachers to adapt it according to their social, cultural and religious needs." I suspect that this sex education course - and its defence - has been written by Groucho Marx, with some help from his brothers. I dread to think what its instructions are for the later chapters. Groping as an educational aid would have been hilarious if it weren't so pathetic. The problem is not with the concept of sex education - which is important, and not just because our NGOs feel that the everybody ought to know about HIV/AIDS. The problem lies in the manner of handling it. Sometimes it is difficult to say which side of the debate sounds sillier, bigoted and limiting. Sex education is not about having sex in schools, as the moral brigade would have us believe; nor is its sole purpose learning about AIDS. Our textbooks will probably put the children off sex for life, if textbooks in other subjects are any indication.Sex education has to find the balance between titillation and ambiguity. The first is counterproductive, the second guarantees trauma for life. That is why the teachers have to be specially trained for the job. The curriculum has to be sensitive, clinical and aimed at educating. If teachers are embarrassed by the human body, how can they teach their students not to be? You only have to read the agony columns of our newspapers - with such questions as "will I become pregnant if I kiss a man?"? to realize how little even some grown ups really know. Girls and boys are taught by reprimand, by being told what not to do; both also learn from the media and movies. But this syllabus is incomplete, and often half-baked. We need to impart the knowledge while ignoring the baggage that comes with it. Three decades ago, the sex education in my school was part of the syllabus, only we didn't call it that. It was taught deadpan without any embarrassment. It came as a pleasant surprise to many that there were scientific names for body parts and bodily functions which were known by shorter and crisper words not always found in the dictionary. Our best defence against the misuse of our bodies is the knowledge of its potential and the consequences of our actions. It is the lack of knowledge that leads to trouble and confusion. Our culture is not so delicate as to collapse at the mention of a condom. We don't need just sex education, we need proper sex education. The distinction is crucial. =============================================================== 11. National Authority to regulate blood collection to be set up.(New Delhi) The Hindu, July 23, 2007. http://www.hindu.com/2007/07/23/stories/2007072356081300.htm New Delhi: National Authority to regulate blood collection to be set up. The Centre has decided to set up a National Blood Transfusion Authority (NBTA) to regulate the blood collection and distribution system in the country. Besides providing access to safe blood at affordable prices, the authority will also promote rational use of blood. The body will be empowered to take action against violators. While the full-fledged authority is expected to come up in two years, the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry will establish four centres of excellence this year in the four metros that will have a capacity to collect and process one lakh units of blood annually. These centres will cater to the four zones. The Ministry has constituted three task forces to look into the various aspects related to blood banking. They have been asked to submit their reports by the end of this month following which the process of setting up the authority would begin. A technology resource group has been asked to decide on the pricing. Blood safety was a major area of focus in the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP)-II, and modernisation of blood banks and installation of blood components separation centres were taken up. "Through these efforts, we have brought down the transmission of HIV infection through contaminated blood to less than 2 per cent," according to Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Anbumani Ramadoss. Greater emphasis on the quality of blood would further help in reducing blood-transfusion related infections including HIV, Hepatitis B and malaria, he added. There are 2,211 blood banks in the country of which 862 are government-managed, 297 are run by charitable institutions and the remaining are private blood banks. To begin with, the Government will bring under its purview the government and charitable blood banks. At present, all blood banks report to the National Blood Transfusion Council which, however, is neither a licensing authority nor does it have any punitive powers. Blood banks across the country obtain their licences from the Drugs Controller-General of India and report to the State AIDS Control Organisation or the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO). =============================================================== 12. Delhi shies away from explicit course material.(New Delhi) The Hindustan Times, July 23, 2007. http://www.hindustantimes.com/Redir.aspx?ID=73af0adf-389d-4f43-b6cb-d94dd3fa6574 New Delhi: Delhi shies away from explicit course material. The controversy over the explicit nature of the sex education course material for schools has put the Delhi government on the defensive. And though Union ministers Renuka Chowdhury and Ambumani Ramadoss insist there is nothing wrong with the material, it has decided to withdraw Volume 1 of the teacher's handbook Yuva. Volume 1 is meant for classes VI-VIII and Volume 2 for classes IX-XII. The book was prepared by the Department of Education, Delhi and Delhi State AIDS Control Society on the basis of a module developed by the HRD Ministry and National AIDS Control Society (NACO). Delhi Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely told HT a new handbook is being readied under the Adolescence Education Programme (AEP), which will consolidate both volumes, sans the objectionable portions. He claimed Volume 1 was withdrawn soon after its introduction in 2005, on the recommendation of a committee. He also admitted he was not aware of the controversial content till the recent media reports, saying: "I can't be expected to know each and every detail in all the books." Teachers, however, say both volumes were used to train them during seminars in 2006. Both the curriculum and seminars did not go down well with them. "Teachers were very upset about it. It encouraged some people to ask very embarrassing questions to women teachers," the vice-principal of a government school said. One teacher revealed that at the seminar she attended ? a gathering of both sexes ? all present were asked to relate their first sexual experience. The Shiksha Bachao Andolan Samiti, which launched an agitation on July 14 for withdrawal of the books, claims the government planned to implement the programme in 2007 but backtracked after gauging the public mood. Another educational aid for AEP is a 66-page 'flip chart' produced jointly by UNICEF and NACO. The first section of the chart has realistic illustrations of naked people of both sexes at different ages, and detailed drawings of the male and female genitalia. The second section on 'sexually transmitted infections' ? which 15-year-old boys and girls are required to view together ? has graphic illustrations of the male and female sexual organs as they appear with STI. NACO has also agreed to a review. "The course material is going to be reviewed, but the process hasn't started. We don't think there is wrong with the books, but perceptions vary," said director Suresh Kumar. Social activists and teachers are demanding that their views be taken into account. "Academicians, psychologists and those opposing this programme should also be involved in the review," said Dinanath Batra, secretary, Shiksha Bachao Andolan Samiti. "We accept sex education is a must. But the manner in which it is sought to be taught is objectionable. It could have a negative impact on students," said Satish Tokas, senior vice-president, Delhi Government Teachers' Association. "Since teachers will be the ones implementing this programme, they should be involved in its formulation". =============================================================== Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in the above articles are those of the respective newspapers, not those of SAATHII.