********************************************************** SAATHII Electronic Newsletter HIV NEWS FROM INDIA SOURCE: www.medicalnewstoday.com, www.infochangeindia.org, www.e-pao.net, www.newkerala.com, www.mbeweston.com, The Hindu, www.afp.google.com, www.centralchronicle.com, The Deccan Herald, Posted on: 04/10/2007 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. Grant aided training program to reduce AIDS among India's adolescents (India) www.medicalnewstoday.com, September 17, 2007. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/82360.php 2. "The media can stigmatise or it can make people more aware" (India) www.infochangeindia.org, September 18, 2007 http://www.infochangeindia.org/analysis227.jsp 3. AIDS sensitisation prog held at Saikul (Saikhul) www.e-pao.net, September 18, 2007. http://www.e-pao.net/GE.asp?heading=15&src=170907 4. UN Agencies pushing sex education in India: Critics (Ernakulam) www.newkerala.com, September 19, 2007. http://www.newkerala.com/oct.php?action=fullnews&id=2295 5. The Challenge That is AIDS (India) www.mbeweston.com, September 19, 2007. http://www.mbeweston.com/public-health/the-challenge-that-is-aids.html 6. Arts in aid of campaign to remove AIDS stigma (New Delhi) The Hindu, September 19, 2007. http://www.hindu.com/2007/09/19/stories/2007091959100200.htm 7. Pfizer touts successful tests on new anti-AIDS drug (Chicago) www.afp.google.com, September 19, 2007. http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iCH1sSxB7rcdrgL6Seh5T2TBdEdQ 8. Health remains area of acute concern (Bhopal) www.centralchronicle.com,September 20, 2007. http://www.centralchronicle.com/20070920/2009302.htm 9. How AIDS battle is being lost (Chandigarh) The Tribune, September 21, 2007. http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=231133 10. Rs. 39 crore for AIDS prevention programme (Bangalore) The Hindu, September 22, 2007. http://www.hindu.com/2007/09/22/stories/2007092254260500.htm 11. Battling many monsters (Bangalore) The Deccan Herald, September 22, 2007. http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Sep222007/she2007092126537.asp =============================================================== 1. Grant aided training program to reduce AIDS among India's adolescents (India) www.medicalnewstoday.com, September 17, 2007. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/82360.php India: Grant Aided Training Program To Reduce AIDS Among India's Adolescents The University of South Florida's global health initiative to help India build an infrastructure to fight AIDS has been strengthened with a $1.36-million research training grant from the National Institutes of Health. USF Health has received the five-year grant from the NIH's Fogarty International Center to create an interdisciplinary training program focused on the biomedical, behavioral, cultural and ethical aspects of detecting, treating and preventing HIV/AIDS among adolescents in India. USF will partner with Vadodara Medical College in Gujarat, India, to teach Indian physicians, scientists, nurses, and other health professionals how to conduct and evaluate community-based HIV clinical studies for this vulnerable population. "This program represents another exciting opportunity for USF to shine in the international health arena and to broaden the scope of our HIV research and training partnerships in India," said USF pediatrician Dr. Patricia Emmanuel, principal investigator for the project. "It will enhance new knowledge in the area of adolescent health and benefit USF and the local communities in India." India ranks second worldwide, following South Africa, in the number of HIV and AIDS cases. In some places in India, half of all new HIV infections occur in adolescents and young adults. Young people are at greater risk for HIV for several reasons, including girls' increased biological susceptibility and a tendency for risky behaviors like unprotected sex and IV drug use, Emmanuel said. India has made some significant inroads in committing resources to the pressing public health problem of AIDS. But, a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine reports that to curb the spread of the HIV epidemic, the developing nation must meet several challenges, including increasing the number of patients treated, improving the monitoring of therapy, caring for patients with tuberculosis coinfection, and reducing the stigma and discrimination associated with AIDS. "We expect to train more home-grown investigators who can confront these barriers by addressing research questions specific to the HIV epidemic in India," Emmanuel said. The new grant,the latest of three NIH Fogarty International awards to USF faculty,was spearheaded by USF Health's Signature Interdisciplinary Program in Allergy, Immunology and Infectious Disease (SPAIID) and the USF-India Center for Health, HIV/AIDS Research and Training (CHART-India). Emmanuel will work with co-principal investigators Dr. Shyam Mohapatra and Dr. Eknath Naik. The grant will expand the existing HIV infrastructure built by CHART-India. Since 1999, USF medical and public health faculty have established several CHART centers across India to care for people with HIV/AIDS, train staff and conduct research. The Fogarty project will draw upon the expertise of USF's nationally-recognized Tampa Bay Adolescent Medicine Trials Unit. The unit, directed by Emmanuel, is one of 15 NIH-funded clinical sites across the country providing comprehensive services to HIV-infected adolescents. Emmanuel oversees a large team of researchers and clinicians who work with both adolescents and children,educating youth at high risk for HIV in an effort to prevent AIDS, offering new treatments, and evaluating barriers to clinical trial enrollment and retention. "This prestigious grant is a national recognition of our strategic efforts to create an effective network for the globalization of translational and clinical research," said Dr. Abdul S. Rao, senior associate vice president for USF Health. "It also underscores the efforts of our interdisciplinary signature program in allergy, immunology and infectious diseases, which was established last year to facilitate such activities." USF Health is dedicated to creating a model of health care based on understanding the full spectrum of health. It includes the University of South Florida's colleges of medicine, nursing, and public health; the schools of biomedical sciences as well as physical therapy & rehabilitation sciences; and the USF Physicians Group. With $310 million in research funding last year, USF is one of the nation's top 63 public research universities and one of Florida's top three research universities. =============================================================== 2. "The media can stigmatise or it can make people more aware" (India) www.infochangeindia.org, September 18, 2007 http://www.infochangeindia.org/analysis227.jsp India: "The media can stigmatise,or it can make people more aware" Reporting on HIV/AIDS definitely gets greater space today than ever before. The epidemic's quick spread across the world, its unrelenting pace, its devastating effect on human life and the socioeconomic conditions of a country " and the millions spent by various world bodies to combat the infection" have all contributed to better media coverage. This is true even if one acknowledges the complaints about shrinking spaces for development news, including health, in a consumerism-driven globalised scenario. While this is a good sign, there is also the danger that half-baked reporting, short on accurate information and insensitive to the experiences of people with HIV/AIDS, will affect society's understanding of the disease. Sometimes it can even hinder awareness campaigns, particularly in less-developed countries and where education levels are low. These cankerous issues as well as genuine problems in reporting were discussed in a workshop on Media and HIV/AIDS reporting: challenges and directions during the recent Eighth International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) held in Colombo from August 19 to 23, 2007. Jointly organised by the ICAAP media committee and the Thomson Foundation, the workshop focused on topics such as the need for well-informed reporting and how to handle a sensitive issue like HIV/AIDS. Indeed, this is a very important subject, say experts in the field. Experience has shown that the media sometimes unwittingly do more harm than good to awareness efforts. Dr Susan Paxton, executive director, Positive Response, Australia, and advisor to the Asia Pacific Network of People iving with HIV/AIDS, who herself is HIV Positive, shared her experience of media insensitivity. It took me some time to "come out" she said, but more than the difficulties she experienced in taking this tentative step, it was the media's invasiveness that traumatised me. HIV-positive for nearly 19 years now, and a public face as she travels around holding workshops for Positive people, Paxton is well-placed to speak on this. On a visit to Taiwan some years back for a speaking engagement, her photograph was splashed in newspapers along with references to her HIV status. "There was even some protest about how a Positive woman could enter the country. As for the journalists, they hounded her in a way that she felt was going to a courtroom instead of a lecture room. The thrust of the reporting was sensationalism. Today, Paxton says, When someone comes to interview me I tell him or her, ?Please donate refer me as a ?victim. I am just a person living with HIV, and life hasn't ended for me. The use of words like ?victim" and equating AIDS with HIV are just two of the pitfalls that should be avoided, communications experts in the area say. Sometimes, however, with the best of intentions, journalists from the regional language press have to struggle to find the right expression for words relating to HIV/AIDS. Journalist Huma Khawar from Pakistan pointed out that the lack of appropriate terminology in Urdu translation poses a challenge, something that English language writers do not have to face. Besides, a translated word may sometimes be considered vulgar by the target audience because of cultural specificities. Kumudini Hettiarachchi of The Sunday Times, Sri Lanka, expressed the same view. Writers in the language press in India have also frequently dithered on how to use words such as "intercourse" and "sex" without making them sound too salacious from the readers perspective. Savyasaachi Jain, India projects coordinator for Thomson Foundation, reported that in Cambodia, some topics related to the disease are not talked about simply because the appropriate words do not exist in the Khmer language. Even if they did, they would be considered offensive. These are, however, problems that can be ironed out as the disease and infection are not confined to closeted discussions anymore. In fact, some progress in this area is already observed. But the problem of how best to write on HIV/AIDS without harming the interests of the infected and affected, and without confusing readers, is still an area that needs more work. There are practical problems too. Reporters must walk the tightrope walk of deadlines, disinterested editors driven by market diktats who prefer eyeball catching news, lack of proper information resources, or even overwhelmingly scientific briefings which can be understood only by researchers and doctors in the area. So mistakes do creep in. But, as Jain said, the basic tenets of good reporting,enquiry and cross-checking as well as the ethical principle of reporting while protecting individuals privacy,should be kept in mind while writing on a subject of such dimensions and with such an impact on society. Otherwise, insensitive reporting can sometimes create fear of the disease and, consequently, fear of the people who are infected. This may result in ostracisation and abandonment of people before treatment is made available. This is relevant because, as Jain pointed out, the public gets more information about AIDS from the media than from government booklets. Hence, the media is powerful which gives it an accompanying responsibility: it can stigmatise or make people more aware. The presentation of news on AIDS is also important in an age of media saturation. Attention spans are shortening and the young in particular switch off mentally if the news seems dull. People can develop an attitude that this is not our concern. Jain feels that the multiple tools of media available today, radio jockeys, theatre, TV shows, interactive shows and so on, can and should be roped in to spread awareness about HIV/AIDS. As a guide to informatively and effectively reporting on HIV/AIDS, the EU-India Initiative with the Thomson Foundation has produced a colourful and interesting media manual. Headlined 25 Years of HIV/AIDS (it was in 1981 that the first published report described a rare pneumonia in five gay men, a condition later identified as characteristic of the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome or AIDS), the manual includes fact files, milestones and simple questions and answers on every aspect of the disease, from how infection occurs to how it is diagnosed and treated. There has been a 60 per cent increase in HIV and AIDS reporting in India, noted Anand Tiwari , advocacy and media consultant, UNAIDS, Delhi, at the workshop. However, Tiwari pointed out, 80 per cent of these reports are event-based and spot reports, covering meetings and celebrity statements. They do not contribute to the general populations knowledge about the disease. This is exemplified in the media circus during visits to India by Hollywood actor and AIDS activist ichard Gere. If earlier he was mobbed for a few sound bytes, recently Gere got more attention for sweeping Indian actress Shilpa Shetty off her feet in a dramatic gesture. He may have been na??ve and unaware of how his impulsive actions would be viewed in a conservative society like India (he apologised afterwards for any offence he might have caused), but for days the media, both print and electronic, went on and on about the episode. In the process people forgot that the event was part of an awareness campaign on AIDS. =============================================================== 3. AIDS sensitisation prog held at Saikul (Saikhul) www.e-pao.net, September 18, 2007. http://www.e-pao.net/GE.asp?heading=15&src=170907 Saikhul: AIDS sensitisation prog held at Saikul Out of the 870 HIV+ people in the whole of Senapati district, 284 positive patients are confined in Saikul area, according to statistics maintained by Network of Positive People, Saikul block. As such, responding to the alarm sounded by the report, a One Day Sensitisation on HIV/AIDS and Transformational Development was held at the community Hall of Happy Valley village, Saikul yesterday which was organised by a community based organisation, Sangga Vanchoi Kilena Lompi (Sa-Va-Kil) in partnership with World Vision Sadar Hills ADP. Large number of people from the area including church leaders, Self Help Groups, Village Development council members, youth club leaders and public leaders attended the programme. The resource persons on the occasion were L.Haojagin Hangmi, secretary of NPP, Saikul block, Paominthang Lupheng, CDC, World Vision of India, Sadar Hills ADP, Thongkhup Doungel, CDC, WVI, Sadar Hills ADP. L.H.Hangmi speaks on present scenario on HIV/AIDS, Manipur, while P Lupheng speaks on Poverty-World Vision of India's development concept.Thongkhup Doungel dwelt on the topic Food Insufficiency. An interaction programme was also held which was moderated by L Michael Singh, CDC, World Vision of India. The programme was also graced by Y.Baite, SDC Saikul and Seijang Haokip, Manager, WVI Sadar Hills ADP as chief guest and guest of honour respectively. =============================================================== 4. UN Agencies pushing sex education in India: Critics (Ernakulam) www.newkerala.com, September 19, 2007. http://www.newkerala.com/oct.php?action=fullnews&id=2295 Ernakulam: UN Agencies pushing sex education in India: Critics Charging that United Nations agencies are pushing sex education in India ostensibly to curb HIV/AIDS, opponents today demanded that schools in the Capital immediately follow in the footsteps of states that have ''banned the syllabus.'' Although ten states have banned sex education that was set to start from July 16, the Delhi government is ''going ahead with the implementation,'' Dinanath Batra told a rally outside Delhi Vidhan Sabha. Batra heads a group called 'Shiksha Bachao Andolan Samiti' campaigning against sex education in schools, saying it will make kids sexually active, undermining family and other traditional values. ''Is this what we want our children to learn in school?'' Batra asked. Under the cover of combating Human Immunodeficiency virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, critics say, Indian authorities are colluding with multinational companies to drum up condom sales. ''The Adoloscence Education programme is being promoted and pushed by organisations such as UNICEF, Children's Fund, UNFPA,Fund for Population Activities,and WHO, World Health Organisation in the name of curbing HIV/AIDS,'' Batra said. Delhi Public School Association president R C Jain said the United States authorities are imposing a fine of 25 dollars on girls who wear low-waist jeans, while Indian authorities seem to have no problem with such display. Former Delhi Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has warned the Assembly that sex education in Western societies has contributed to proliferation of sexual activity. Activists cite how single-parent families and teen pregnancies have become the biggest concerns in the West. The campaign has drawn support from spokesmen of Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Christian faith. The Human Resource Development Ministry decided to introduce Sex Education,Adolescence Education,in schools in the 2007 academic session starting July 16. Ten States,Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa, have declined to implement it, Samiti officials said. Course material samples are replete with such terms as masturbation, sexual intercourse and safe sex, not to mention genitalia, opponents said. Critics question the need to introduce such content and criticize HRD Minister Arjun Singh, Delhi Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely and the Central Board of Secondary Education. The issue figured in Parliament last month and the government announced steps to assign experts to produce ''a guideline'' for implementing sex education programme. Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Panabaka Lakshmi said a National Adolescence Education Programme Toolkit Review Committee has been set up by the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO). NACO itself is one of the authors of the controversial Programme under fire over content critics say may do more harm than good. =============================================================== 5. The Challenge That is AIDS (India) www.mbeweston.com, September 19, 2007. http://www.mbeweston.com/public-health/the-challenge-that-is-aids.html India: The Challenge That is AIDS It is no doubt that these days anti-AIDS campaigns are huge photo opportunities more than anything else. From high ranking politicians and beauty queens, film stars and social workers, everybody jostles for space on the podium, shouting themselves hoarse about safe sex, dignity to those who suffer from AIDS, the care and acceptance they need and many other things besides. It is another matter how many of these clich?(c)s are actually translated into action, especially in countries which have taken the worst beating of the AIDS epidemic. Since the identification of the first HIV + case in Senegal in 1986, there has been no end of research and activism done, but not much good seems to have come out of it. It is a glaring fact that today, almost 38 million people are infected with AIDS across the world, and there seems to be nothing much actually done to retard the increase in numbers. Awareness campaigns only serve to frighten those who already have it since being a carrier means social ostracism, they can no longer be anonymous in their state. In developing and poor countries of Afro-Asian region, AIDS is a REAL threat, not something whose initial infection can be kept at bay with drugs. The fight has now acquired political overtones in most poor countries since celebrity endorsements to the cause seem to have started the roll in of money. But who gives the money calls the shots, and in this case, US is the single greatest contributor, with various donors. The contributions from PEPFAR (Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), are directed mainly towards the 15 worst hit Sub Saharan countries (which account for almost 66% of all the AIDS cases in the world), but there is still a political agenda on the board. The Congress had asked for at least 33% of the prevention part of this money be spent on focusing on sexual abstinence a part of the program. It does not work that way in real life. An equal, if not greater emphasis is needed on the concept of safe sex the use of condoms, but this faces a hurdle, in the form of religious objections (even the Church does not encourage the use of condoms). Supplying American drugs to the patients is another issue while the plan allocation is an important issue in some countries. Probably activists across the world hoped these problems will resolve themselves over time. But the spending, plans and all efforts are based on the assumption that these will be required only till a cure is found. There seems to be none in sight, and so, for an indefinite p eriod of time, the people of these countries, suffering from AIDS, will have no option but live off the taxpayers of affluent countries. Political memory is very short and it may well happen that some policy rethinks bring about a change in this situation before the cure can be fund. Is it then proper to have the fates of such a large number of people hanging in the balance? The fight against AIDS in Africa seems to be a losing battle. The workers who have been there for decades, fighting, educating, struggling, have finally come to terms with the fact that nothing is helping. Socio-economic structures will ensure the disease lives on, and nowhere more than these starving countries. The reasons are many, exploitation of the people, especially women. Messages such as abstinence and fidelity have not worked, and will not work either, simply because they are unrealistic expectations. The main hurdle has been that till now the problem of AIDS has been seen in an international context. The strategy should have been, to see the problem in the socio-economic and cultural context. So looking for solutions in the African context could have told the workers that its roots are essentially not medical, but socio-economic and steps have to be taken accordingly. Similarly in India, the root is again socio-economic, social acceptance of promiscuousness of men, helplessness of their wives at home, and economic compulsions of women who end up being the multiple partners understanding these issues could well have set the AIDS workers on the path to the solution by now. The solution unfortunately lies only party in rehabilitation and drugs and vaccines. Most of it lies in the poverty and illiteracy factor. Women, even if they know and understand their rights, do not always have the power to exercise them, and certainly never, when it comes to right over sexual relations. Making prostitution legal or illegal will also not solve anything, since laws like these are meant to be broken. As long as there are starving women and exploiting men, prostitution will flourish in one form or another. War zones suffer from their own set of problems, and the solution does not lie in visits from dignitaries and some right noises made by them. The involvement of local agencies must be emphasized, but unfortunately, it is only now that these things are being understood. Prevention has to be the priority, rather than taking care. In developing countries like India that have growing economies, it is usually social reasons that stump any efforts to fight AIDS. Between 2001 and 2002, the number of HIV + people rose from 3.97 million to 4.6 million in India alone, and given this rate of growth, this will soon be in the same proportion as the African countries (almost 5.2 million). The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation has been contributing generously to control the disease in India but the onslaught, like in Africa, continues. The only saving grace is that the aware medical fraternity in India started taking steps to combat AIDS just when it was identified first, so today, almost 18 years later, we are not yet in the midst of an epidemic. Of course, India's pitfall is the burgeoning population, and it is difficult to control a disease like AIDS in this kind of a teeming crowd. Another problem is the social stigma associated with the disease, which discourages open discussions, not to mention taking medication. The biggest hurdle could be the fact that sex is a taboo subject in India, even though Indians have one of the highest rates of multiplying in the world but diseases cannot be controlled by behind- the- closet discussions. The disease in India has reached non-high risk behavior persons, faithful housewives, infants mainly through married, promiscuous males. Today 1% of all pregnant women test positive, while 26% of all reported cases are of females, even though the Indian society does not allow women multiple sexual partners (not openly anyways). Shocking statistics n terms of awareness are coming to light, about 90% of urban Indians have heard of AIDS (where have the rest 10% been all this while?), only 72% of the rural population knows about it. In less educated states, almost 75% of the women have never heard of AIDS. Their husbands, migrant workers to metros, will probably give it to them before these women get to hear about AIDS from anyone else. AIDS is a real threat, that will not go away by Charity balls and celebrity podia. It is a grassroots problem that needs to be handled at that level. It cannot be seen as an opportunity to help the world, or even help the poor. Photo shoots will not help, nor will speeches,the day the activist will realize this, the first step towards eradication or at least prevention will have been taken. =============================================================== 6. Arts in aid of campaign to remove AIDS stigma (New Delhi) The Hindu, September 19, 2007. http://www.hindu.com/2007/09/19/stories/2007091959100200.htm New Delhi: Arts in aid of campaign to remove AIDS stigma The arts could help reduce stigma and fear that prevent one from seeking treatment for HIV and AIDS. The arts are underutilised in the realm of public health and medicine, director of Make Art Stop AIDS David Gere said here on Tuesday. Organised by the U.S. Consulate, the programme was aimed at exploring the possible ways in which the arts could help address the issue of HIV and AIDS. Participating students, in their responses, said arts could help clarify myths and truths, create awareness, and educate people. Mr. Gere, an activist who has been working in the area of HIV and AIDS and brother of Hollywood actor Richard Gere, has been networking with artists across India, who have attempted to use art as a tool to address the issue. From filmmakers and puppeteers to dancers and photographers, artists using creative media to convey messages related to HIV and AIDS have been working together to create an awareness of the issue. As part of 'the Make Art Stop AIDS' initiative, he is working on a comprehensive plan for arts intervention in addressing AIDS in five countries including India, he said. Ragini Gupta, U.S. Consul for Cultural Affairs, who welcomed the speakers, said the programme fell in line with the initiative of the U.S. to combat HIV and AIDS. Actors Rohini and Karthi Sivakumar were among the speakers for the evening. Mr. Karthi Sivakumar said arts such as films had the ability to change the mindset of the viewer. The viewer may have come in with a particular frame of mind with certain expectations. But, he or she may get to watch and experience something totally different altogether, he said. Art will definitely make an impact,he added. Ms. Rohini, who has made short films on HIV and AIDS, suggested that students work on social themes for college projects. While society reserved weddings for those who have completed education and settled down comfortably in good jobs, it failed to address issues of adolescents who are biologically ready to reproduce right from the age of 12 or 13. Considering the vulnerability of those in the 15 to 28 age group, it was important to spread awareness among them, she added.A play by the Nalamdana Foundation followed.College students and members of red ribbon clubs participated. =============================================================== 7. Pfizer touts successful tests on new anti-AIDS drug (Chicago) www.afp.google.com, September 19, 2007. http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iCH1sSxB7rcdrgL6Seh5T2TBdEdQ Chicago: Pfizer touts successful tests on new anti-AIDS drug Pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer Tuesday unveiled the results of lengthy tests on a new anti-AIDS drug which it said could help HIV patients stay healthy for longer. Selzentry is the first new class of oral HIV medicines to be introduced in more than 10 years, Pfizer said at an annual medical conference in Chicago. After a 48-week trial, nearly three times as many patients receiving the drug combined with traditional medication recorded undetectable levels of HIV virus, compared with those just getting the normal treatments. "The safety and durability of response seen with Selzentry in our study is reassuring. This drug is an important new weapon for clinicians who treat HIV," said Jacob Lalezari, director of Quest Clinical Research, at the University of California. The US Food and Drug Administration in August approved the use of Selzentry, which is the first in a class of drugs called CCR5 antagonists. They prevent the virus from entering the body's T-cells, rather than fighting the virus once it is already infected the cells. The drug does not however cure HIV infection or prevent it from being passed to another person, the company warned. The side-effects are similar to those experienced with other anti-AIDS drugs, including nausea, fatigue, headaches and diarrhea. Experts believe the eventual sales of the drug could generate 500 million dollars for Pfizer annually by 2011. The company is also seeking permission for worldwide sales. "Selzentry is the first in a class of drugs known as CCR5 antagonists, which block the CCR5 co-receptor, the virus? predominant entry route into T-cells," Pfizer said in a statement. The drug "stops the R5 virus on the outside surface of the cells before it enters, rather than fighting the virus inside as do all other classes of oral HIV medicines." =============================================================== 8. Health remains area of acute concern (Bhopal) www.centralchronicle.com, September 20, 2007. http://www.centralchronicle.com/20070920/2009302.htm Bhopal: Health remains area of acute concern As the Government, with a little help from private agencies and non-governmental organizations seeks to improve the health of its population, there is cause for serious concern at the ground level, to reduce which is going to be a colossal task. The estimated loss in India's national income as a result of heart diseases, stroke and diabetes in 2005 was US $9 billion and it is projected to exceed $200 billion over the next ten years. While the corporate sector has quickly taken the hint of the usefulness of preventive health care, on the whole policy has lagged behind and to date there are no fiscal or other incentives to encourage prevention, says a recent study conducted by Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations. The ICRIER report, in its study based on a survey of disparate companies across 15 states of India, showed 12 per cent of blue-collared workers were at a high-risk of getting a debilitating disease as compared to four percent of the medium and senior level employee. While blue collared workers are generally afflicted with acute as well as chronic infectious diseases like tuberculosis and AIDS, senior executives are more prone to life style diseases, owing to lack of exercise and dietary control. It has been pointed out that ICRIER's survey corroborates was Apollo Hospitals found in its study on health and wellness survey of 2003 the study said more than half of the executives were prone to lifestyle diseases and nearly 71 per cent of the employees and 82 percent of the CEOs were overweight. It had also found that nearly 48 percent of the employees and 69 percent of the CEOs were physically unfit. The study titled Impact of Preventive Healthcare on Industry and Economy, said public spending on health had stagnated at 0.9 percent of the GDP since the mid 1980s and the government per capita health expenditure is one of the lowest. The direct impact of employee sickness is reflected in man days lost. The ICRIER survey shows almost a quarter of the companies lose approximately 50 man days in a year due to sickness. Another 34 percent companies lose between 10 and 50 man days. This translates into an equal percentage of loss in their productivity and profits. Only a preventive health care strategy can reduce the chance of sickness and sick leave. To mitigate some of the cost, two thirds of the respondent companies have introduced preventive healthcare as part of their corporate governance strategy. However, less than one third make provision for the whole range of preventive health care measures for their staff. Many of them feel providing health insurance is good enough. The report suggests a well designed employee wellness programme by companies could lead to 25 per cent reduction in their health plan costs, sick-leave disability pay and workers' compensation. Reducing just one health risk increases an employee's the job productivity by 9 per cent and cuts absenteeism by two percent. The ICRIER report sums up with some suggestions, both for the Government and the business cum industrial houses of the country. These include conducting a health audit of all employees at regular intervals, introduction of preventive health care benefits and vouchers. What afflicts the average Indian the most- be it the office goer, the factory worker or the home maker? Recent studies conducted by AIIMS on behalf of a media related social welfare group has said that despite the high prevalence of diabetes, HIV and cancer, it has been found that osteoarthritis beats them all to claim the number one slot among ailments in the country. Osteoarthritis is a condition in which the cartilage that acts as cushion between bones in joints begins to wear out, causing inflammation and pain in joints, thereby restricting movement. According to the media house report, in the age group 25 to 35 years, the most common ailments on both the sexes are spondylosis and adult asthma. Women also have a high incidence of slipped disc and rheumatoid arthritis.Migraine seems to be almost exclusively a woman's disease, with vary low prevalence among men. In general, prevalence of various ailments was higher among women. But, certain diseases like Hepatitis B, end stage renal disease and oral cancer mostly affect men. With comparatively very low prevalence among women. Hypothyroidism, on the other hand, is an exclusively female ailment. A surprise finding is that depression, seen more as a woman's ailment, is widely prevalent across gender and age groups. When it comes to awareness about ailments, diabetes tops the list, followed by HIV and various cancers, which can be interpreted, as heartening news for those involved in awareness campaigns for HIV and breast cancer. What is worrying however is the rather low awareness about widely prevalent bone ailments, migraine disorders, depression and hypothyroidism. Surely, it is not an easy task on hand. What can be aimed at therefore, is a simple austere lifestyle for the man on the street, instead of fancy eating and car-riding population who face serious health problems by the time they are middle aged. =============================================================== 9. How AIDS battle is being lost (Chandigarh) The Tribune, September 21, 2007. http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=231133 Chandigarh: How AIDS battle is being lost Can overburdened babus handle AIDS control programmes? Well, in India they can, even if they have no skill or time to give a push to the programme. And when it comes to saddling bureaucrats with additional responsibility of crucial departments like AIDS Control, state governments just won't budge not even when health ministry warns them of blocking the World Bank aid if they fail to appoint full-time project directors of State AIDS Control Societies (SACS), with at least 10 years experience in the field. Shockingly, despite the ultimatum, most states and UTs, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh included, continue to violate National AIDS Control Organisation's (NACO) terms for receiving global aid to run National AIDS Control Programme NACP III. Even after signing letters of understanding (LOUs) with the Government of India and promising to honour the conditions, 70 per cent states are ignoring the NACO guideline of posting full time project directors at SACS a condition critical to the success of AIDS control programme. India houses about 5.7 million the highest HIV-infected population in the world. North of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh don't have independent project directors for SACS. In Punjab, secretary, health, KBS Sidhu, with umpteen jobs to do, has been burdened with the additional charge of SACS. In Haryana, director-general, health services, Dr Avinash Sharma, responsible for health administration of the entire state, is officiating as SACS project director. The Chandigarh administration recently posted deputy commissioner R.K. Rao as SACS project director, least bothered if he had the requisite experience or the time to handle the post. Most serving project directors have no field experience in HIV. All this is happening despite NACO's stress on having independent SACS heads. On July 16, NACO director- general Sujatha Rao warned the states that if they were unable to find full-time directors for SACS, they could, at the most, place National Rural Health Missions directors as additional in charges. She clarified that overburdened bureaucrats as SACS heads were unacceptable. Yet the states are not heeding, compromising the success of the just-launched NACP III and risking the release of subsequent World Bank grant. The World Bank has given NACO 250 million US dollars for AIDS control in the first three years of NACP III (2007 to 2012). A policy document of the health ministry, in possession of The Tribune, reveals NACO' concerns. In Strategy and Implementation Plan for NACP III, NACO think tank writes: Frequent changes of project directors of SACS weakened the thrust and focus of HIV/AIDS interventions. In some highly vulnerable states, project directors were either saddled with additional non-HIV responsibilities or given SACS charge as additional responsibility. Most key positions remained vacant. These factors caused uneven implementation of the programme. It is necessary to have policy safeguards against this trend. =============================================================== 10. Rs. 39 crore for AIDS prevention programme (Bangalore) The Hindu, September 22, 2007. http://www.hindu.com/2007/09/22/stories/2007092254260500.htm Bangalore: Rs. 39 crore for AIDS prevention programme Karnataka State AIDS Prevention Society (KSAPS) will get Rs. 39 crore from National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) for undertaking HIV/AIDS prevention measures in the State in 2007-08. Though the officials of KSAPS sought more funds from NACO, New Delhi, the organisation has agreed to provide Rs. 39 crore in the first year of the Third National HIV/AIDS Control Project. KSAPS had received Rs. 31 crore in the last financial year. NACO had not yet released the funds to the society, official sources in the Government told The Hindu on Friday. The society will support the Government's efforts to prevent the spread and mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS in the State, by assisting in improving prevention programmes, and amplifying care, support, and treatment of people living with HIV/AIDS in various districts. Ambitious goal NACO has been implementing the Third National HIV/AIDS Control Project, for which the World Bank agreed to provide credit of $ 250 million. The Union Government has embarked on an ambitious goal of halting and reversing the HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2011, ahead of the 2015 target of the eighth Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations. According to NACO's Annual Sentinel Surveillance Data, the prevalence of HIV/AIDS cases in the State declined by 7 per cent during 1998-2006. Cases also declined in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh during the same period. According to Government data, 10,589 HIV/AIDS cases have been reported in the State from 1987 to 2006. The highest number of cases had been reported from Udupi district (1,804), followed by Dakshin Kannada (1,679), Belgaum (1,620), Bangalore City (1,483), Davangere (1,010) during the period. According to estimates, India had 5.2 million HIV/AIDS patients (people aged between 15-49 years) in 2005. Funds utilisation Funds will be used to scale up interventions in highly vulnerable sections of society, such as long distance truckers. =============================================================== 11. Battling many monsters (Bangalore) The Deccan Herald, September 22, 2007. http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Sep222007/she2007092126537.asp Bangalore: Battling many monsters In a weird sense, Velammal (name changed) represents the `modern Indian woman.' The description would certainly conjure up images of an upmarket, independent kind of a woman who walks proudly with her modern outfit. Velammal have stitched a few of those clothes but she definitely can't afford any of them. Nor can she boast of salaries that would rival the bank balance of the garment factory she had worked for. On the contrary, Velammal's claims to represent modern women of this country are purely based on the problems she faces. Thousands of her gender in this country have bravely fought poverty in previous decades with whatever skills they had. But Velammal's fight is with a dreadful condition: HIV/AIDS, something beyond what her frail body and failing health can take. Yet, like women of the previous generation, Velammal can't take dignity as sure thing and have to work to earn her bred and respect. And she has to fight the monster called `stigma'. She is at least fortunate that an NGO, Milana, has come to her aid in this struggle. "I collect cloth materials from Milana," Velammal says. "I make garments with that using a sewing machine I have borrowed and return the finished product to Milana. They support me well and without support from them and from my family, it is very hard to continue life as usual." Jyothi Kiran, Project Co-ordinator at Milana, explains the delicate business arrangement her organisation have to make with positive women. "I know positive women like Velammal are physically ok today," Jyothi says. "But they are prone to frequent ill health and that shouldn't obstruct their work and stop the money, which is vital in some cases. So, we involve the family of the positive women who can step in for them if needed." Sangeetha's (not the real name) is another case in point. She is a sex worker who has sought the help of the NGO Vimochana to fight the forces that threaten several women like her: gangsters, pimps, and the police, who regularly arrest and harass them. Work with the NGO has given her respectability, but Sangeetha is still struggling to convince the society that viewing women like her from a moral high ground is not the best way to alleviate their suffering. "Perhaps what makes them come to us is this," explains Madhu Bhushan from Vimochana. "We don't pronounce judgments on them or consider them morally inferior. All that we do is to empathise with them and help them tackle the threats they face. Of course, those who express the desire to get out of prostitution, we offer them the alternative." Ramammal (name changed), another example of the modern woman, thought she would never leave the confines of her house to work. The fact that she is disabled prompted her excessively protective parents to keep her at home, rather than put her through the risk of managing issues like chaotic city traffic and unfriendly buildings. But Ramammal's determination triumphed in the end: she sought the help of Association of People with Disability (APD) and has gained confidence to work and earn. Spellbound These are women who told their stories to the spell bound audience at the Medico Pastoral Association, where the NGOs supporting them were showcasing their projects to empower marginalised women. "All these years, our focus has been on the welfare of children; encouraging them to go to school," says Dola Mohapatra, National Director, Christian Children's Fund (CCF-India), who have organised the event along with Child India Fund. "But children's welfare is inextricably tied to the welfare of women, especially those who are marginalised. That's why we are shifting our focus to women like those who you heard today." As Mr Mohapatra explains, it isn't just poverty or inequality the marginalised women are fighting. For (HIV/AIDS) positive women, the issue is more about fighting stigma, discrimination and winning recognition for their right to live with dignity and honour. For women with disability or women from tribal areas, the struggle isn't any different. Organisations like CCF-India have started to recognise this in recent times and stretch out their helping hands to marginalised women through NGOs that support them. =============================================================== Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in the above articles are those of the respective newspapers, not those of SAATHII.