PHA-Exchange> India Minister Vows To Beat Aids

[Aviva]

India is trying to fight a growing
epidemic with already 4.5 million people infected.


INDIA MINISTER VOWS TO BEAT MINISTER

India's health minister has said that there will never be an Aids
epidemic in the country.

"I will prove all experts wrong. We are taking on the disease from all
fronts. We are tackling it very bravely," Minister Sushma Swaraj told
the BBC. India's Health Ministry estimates that 4.58 million people -
or roughly 0.8% of the adult population - are HIV-positive. Critics say
that India's Aids control programme has been marred by sluggish
awareness programmes, rickety treatment facilities and unaccountable
non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

High risk groups
Ms Swaraj said that a 'holistic' approach - as opposed to the previous
'prevention centric' approach - to tackle Aids in India was working.
She said this will check the spread of the disease and remove the
stigma about it. "(It is about) educating and informing people about
how Aids is transmitted," said Ms Swaraj. She said the NGOs were now
being given 'area and field specific' tasks, targeting four high risk
groups and areas: commercial sex workers, adolescent youth, migrant
workers and truckers, and
parent to child transmission.

"Now we are asking the NGOs which area they want to work in. If they
chose sex workers, we identify the locality and tell them to ensure the
supply of condoms there," said Ms Swaraj "We are identifying centres,
giving them responsibilities and monitoring their work. This never
[happened] before," she said. Ms Swaraj agreed that women in Indian
villages were susceptible to infection from their husbands returning
home from working in other states. "We are now making [women's] groups.
They talk about the disease and about telling [your husband] to wear
condoms. Otherwise, you just refuse [sex]. This is the awareness we
want among rural women."

Ms Swaraj said Indians can no longer be "escapist" about safe sex
practices and Aids. "We cannot brush the disease under the carpet. The
attitude is changing very fast. Now people are talking about it." Asked
why only one state in India is presently beginning to introduce sex
education in schools, Ms Swaraj said sex education "is becoming part of
the curriculum in every state". Ms Swaraj denied that she was the only
person talking about the need for sexual abstinence and faith to
control Aids. "This is the message the World Health Organisation has
adopted," she said. "[It is] ABC. A is abstinence. B is to be faithful
and C is condoms. Using condoms only is not the only answer to the
disease."

'No prudish approach'
Asked whether the ruling BJP government with its emphasis on Hindu
cultural morality was in denial about Aids, Ms Swaraj said: "This is
absolutely baseless." She claimed that during her tenure condom usage
had gone up and the number of distribution outlets had doubled. "All
this has not happened with a prudish approach," she said. Ms Swaraj
defended the Indian Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani, who has
urged people to lead responsible personal lives. "Ours is a moral
society. While tackling Aids you [cannot] say you lead licentious lives
because [you can use] condoms. I don't think that should be the
message." Asked what is the single most important thing the world
should do to fight Aids, Ms Swaraj said people should "change their
behaviour". "We must be faithful to our partner," she said. Earlier
this year, Ms Swaraj publicly hugged two HIV-positive children, in an
attempt to dispel myths and remove some of the stigma attached to the
condition. Asked whether she would make a personal pledge on combating
Aids, Ms Swaraj said: "I will love Aids infected children, not reject
them."

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