********************************************************** SAATHII Electronic Newsletter HIV NEWS FROM INDIA Source: Blitz.com, The Economic Times, The Hindu and IBN Live Posted on: 02/02/2008 COMPILED BY: Jacob Boopalan, 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. Forcing teenage girls Blitz.com, January 31, 2008. http://www.weeklyblitz.net/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1201724435&archive=&start_from=&ucat=3&cat=3 2. HIV patients in India do not get dementia, say Bangalore scientist The Economic Times, January 31, 2008. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/HIV_patients_in_India_do_not_get_dementia_say_Bangalore_scientist_/articleshow/2746007.cms 3. Mira Nair's AIDS project 'Jaago' goes online The Hindu, January 31, 2008. http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/009200801311921.htm 4. Maharashtra wants compulsory pre-marital HIV testing IBN Live, February 01, 2008. http://www.ibnlive.com/news/maharashtra-wants-compulsory-premarital-hiv-testing/57858-3.html =============================================================== 1. Forcing teenage girls Blitz.com, January 31, 2008. http://www.weeklyblitz.net/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1201724435&archive=&start_from=&ucat=3&cat=3 Women and girls make up a growing proportion of those infected by HIV/AIDS. The United Nations estimates that every day 6,000 young people aged 15 to 24 become infected with HIV. A staggering two-thirds of these new cases are adolescent women. Economic, social, and cultural factors contribute to the disparity of new HIV/AIDS cases between men and women. At the end of 2004, UNAIDS reported that women made up almost half of the 37.2 million adults (aged 15 to 49) living with HIV/AIDS worldwide. The hardest-hit regions are areas where heterosexual contact is the primary mode of transmission. This is most evident in sub-Saharan Africa, where close to 60% of adults living with HIV/AIDS are women. Child prostitution in India is on the rise, and one third of the sex workers are being under 18 years old. The underlying causes of child trafficking include poverty and lack of economic opportunities for young people, the low status of girls, high demand for commercial sex, cheap labor, weak law enforcement, discrimination and conflict. Surveys on trafficking and sexual exploitation conducted in South Asia, including in India, Nepal and Bangladesh, show that trafficking of children is lucrative, well organized and linked to criminal activity and corruption. It is also transnational, often hidden and therefore hard to combat. This depressing picture is compounded by the use of teenage girls as prostitutes in countries throughout the world. An unknown but vast number of teenage girls are used for commercial sexual purposes every year, often ending up with their health destroyed, victims of various STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) or HIV/AIDS. Teenage girls are sought with the expectation that clients will not be exposed to HIV. But prostitutes do not have bargaining power. That belongs to the customers, it has confirmed almost impossible to give prostitutes bargaining power in terms of condoms. Teenage prostituted can be raped, beaten, emotionally abused, tortured, and even killed by pimps, brothel owners or clients. Some have been trafficked from one country to another. Moreover, teenage prostitutes are frequently treated as criminals by law enforcement and judicial authorities, rather than as teenage girls who are victims of sexual exploitation. AIDS Researcher Ms. Muslem Khan Bulon said poverty, trafficking & HIV/AIDS are interrelated; especially women and girls are trafficking for use of prostitution. Teenage girls trafficked to India are at high risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases(STDs), including HIV/AIDS, because of India is the second largest HIV/AIDS infected country in the world, It is estimated that half of the girls in Mumbai brothels who are under the age of 18 years have been infected with HIV. Most of trafficking girls or women would face several physical & sexual abuses. When a girl or women newly enrolls a sex industry, she tries to safe herself heard & soul, but most of the time they couldn’t free her. A survey conducted by Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallyan Foundation that the girls forced (trafficking) into the brothels do not want to return to their homes once they are into it for more than one year. Such girls believe, they would be victim of social stigma and face discrimination from the society. They also believe, their family would suffer several social taboo, self-respect, and social-dignity. AIDS researcher Mohammad Khairul Alam said, “Trafficking in girls and women is warmly linked to movements in search of employment opportunities. Poverty and gender discrimination make girls and women more vulnerable to traffickers and buyers. The traffickers are not accompanying the women while crossing the border. So it is difficult for the border police to arrest them. There are some female members in the trafficking gang, which helps to hide their identity. Initiatives to reduce poverty and promote gender equality are therefore of direct importance in efforts to combat trafficking.” =============================================================== 2. HIV patients in India do not get dementia, say Bangalore scientist The Economic Times, January 31, 2008. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/HIV_patients_in_India_do_not_get_dementia_say_Bangalore_scientist_/articleshow/2746007.cms BANGALORE: Studies conducted by Dr. Ranga Uday Kumar, a scientist from Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), here have revealed that HIV patients in India do not suffer from dementia due to genetics. The observations made by Uday Kumar and his team will soon be published in reputed international medical and research journals. In an exclusive interview to Asian News International on Monday, Dr Kumar said that the HIV viruses are classified into various sub-types. The virus found in Indians is of sub-type C. "We, for the first time, demonstrated a very important difference in one of the viral proteins in sub-type C and we have proposed that this is the one which is leading to different clinical manifestation, so that is important in this work. So after our publication it's not that everybody started believing us but many people understood that now they can't dismiss subtype differences, there are strong circumstantial evidences to show that virus subtypes can have pathogenic properties," said Dr. Ranga Uday Kumar. Dr. Kumar, however, said that it is the time factor that determines the end results of all their studies since observations of experiments conducted elsewhere in the world, under different parameters, have to be tallied and analysed before reaching any final conclusion. "The most important thing to understand is that we know a lot about this American virus. Let's say: family B. All the medical literature 99 percent literature appears on sub-type B. But we have no clue about our own virus sub-type C so many lab is essentially working on this," said Dr. Kumar "The other thing is American viruses cause only 10-12 percent global infections but subtype C virus actually causes nearly 60 per cent of the global infections so the real virus is subtype C not subtype B, though both are HIV only," added Dr. Kumar while noting that there was still a big need of more publications to prove their hypothesis and bringing out a result. "There are just two only publications so far from our group so unless more data emerge from other groups and other countries rather we don't know whether our hypothesis is really true or not because these kind of things need a few dozens of publication from various different regions. But having said this I know already that sub-type C is a very mellow down virus but it is killing people," he said. Subtype C is not prone to dementia because the protein TAT that effects the brain cell undergoes a genetic change in India and results in lack of dementia. The main purpose of the study was to find out whether there were similar differences between the pathogens. But due to the absence of animal model for experimentation in India they depended solely on the cell culture to solve the mystery. Dr. Ranga Uday Kumar also mentioned that he and his team members have regular interaction with many researchers abroad such John Hopkins University and other institutions in the U.S., Brazil and Africa. =============================================================== 3. Mira Nair's AIDS project 'Jaago' goes online The Hindu, January 31, 2008. http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/009200801311921.htm San Mateo (California): With an aim to dismantle myths and raise awareness about HIV/AIDS, director Mira Nair's noble project 'Jaago' (awake), a collection of four short-films directed by Vishal Bhardwaj, Santosh Sivan, Farhan Akhtar and one by Mira herself, now can be seen for free on a website. "We cannot underestimate the potential of film to change behaviour and transform the world. These short films have the power to make a big impact on audiences who see them in theaters before popular Bollywood movies, to now a larger population that can now watch them on Jaman.com," said Mira Nair. 'Jaago', funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and produced by Mirabai Films, is a combination of four different films - Migration, Blood Brothers, Positive, Prarambha. All the four films got rave reviews in different film festivals. From the story of an HIV positive young boy who overcomes stigma at school to a labourer who gets involved in a dangerous love triangle with a frustrated wife and her closeted husband, these mini movies use star-studded casts to showcase prejudices and change behavior, said the 'Namesake' director. "Media changes minds. The AIDS Jaago films assemble some of the brightest of Indian directorial power behind a critical message. These gorgeous, inspiring mini-movies can now be viewed by audiences around the globe in countries most dramatically affected by AIDS," said Gaurav Dhillion, founder and CEO of Jaman.com. =============================================================== 4. Maharashtra wants compulsory pre-marital HIV testing IBN Live, February 01, 2008. http://www.ibnlive.com/news/maharashtra-wants-compulsory-premarital-hiv-testing/57858-3.html Mumbai: Maharashtra may just become the first state to make pre-marital HIV testing compulsory. A high-level State government committee has recommended that pre-marital HIV test should be made mandatory. The committee headed by State Health Minister Vimal Mundada, was formed late last year after a PIL was filed in the Bombay High Court asking for such a test. The proposal could be a first if it becomes a legislation, but it is expected to face stiff opposition. The National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) guidelines states that mandatory HIV test should not be a precondition for employment or providing healthcare, and in the case of marriage, a test can be carried out only if a partner insists on it. "It’s not a rational measure,” NACO Director S Sureshkumar condemned it, and called it a “futile exercise". With the HIV-positive status also comes a tag of social stigma. However, Maharashtra is home to over 50 lakh HIV-infected people, making it the second state in the country. The State health ministry is not willing to take any chances, and so before tabling the proposal in the State Cabinet, the government wants to garner a larger public mandate to back it. "We will involve NGOs, get views from people between 15-25 years and see what they say,” explained state Health Minister, Vimal Mundada. Maharashtra's bold initiative could prove to be a shot in the arm for other States such as Andhra Pradesh and Goa who also mooted similar legislations earlier. But in the face of stringent opposition from different sections of society, the road to implementation may not be easy. =============================================================== Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in the above articles are those of the respective newspapers, not those of SAATHII.