|
| Home » Guest Column » Ashok K. Rau |
| |
 |
|
GUEST COLUMN |
|
| |
"WTC AND AIDS: MAKING
THE CONNECTION"
Ashok K. Rau |
| |
| September 11, 2001 - the terror attacks in New York
and Washington. More than 300 confirmed deaths and over 5000
people missing, presumably dead. |
| |
| In some way or another, the entire international
community was shaken by these events. The result:"A human
tragedy of Global impact and concern," an immediate International
response to ensure the safety of people affected and, action
on an International scale to address the sources responsible
for the loss of human lives. It is precisely from this response,
we can learn and understand what we areall doing wrong in our
global and national responses to the HIV/AIDS crisis, in which
millions of people have lost their lives, that too in miserable
conditions. It also brings into perspective what we should be
doing differently. |
| |
| I have been listening for a while, the rhetorical resolve
of many great world leaders. But I often wonder if they have
been matched with sustained, dedicated and committed action.
|
| |
| Here again, let's look at the response of the leadership of
the United States of America to the September 11 incidents.
It has been all-encompassing, bipartisan, immediate and with
a renewed sense of purpose and dedication. Billions of dollars
have been made available from the national budgets, apart from
billions from other sources. The UN has called for global action
prompting world communities and countries to act swiftly in
solidarity. (I was witness to almost every American, as I was
in the US for a couple of weeks after the terrorist attacks,
wondering what she or he should or could do to make a difference.) |
| |
| While the war against terrorism and the war against HIV/AIDS
have fundamental differences, it's the similarities that are
striking. Both are unconventional in nature and will require
perseverance, tenacity and commitment from all spheres, both
bring into perspective issues that are controversial and challenging. |
| |
| What is it then that is responsible for the largely sluggish
and delayed response from leaders of countries at the forefront
of the terror that is AIDS? |
| |
| As I write this piece, I am going back to more than 10 years
ago when I sat on the steps of the ruins of a small chicken
coup wondering what am I going to do about the threat of HIV/AIDS
in India. More than ten years have gone by and the ruins of
the chicken coup have grown up to an organisation called Freedom
Foundation. I still sit in one corner of the chicken coup, though
I must admit it does not look like a ruined chicken coup anymore.
I have been witness to untold human suffering as thousands of
people, who have been infected and affected, walking through
the doors of the Foundation and its various units and hundreds
of people losing their lives. Many who have lived long enough
indeed touched our lives. |
| |
| Today I see around me young children infected and many who
have been orphaned. Many have passed away, yet I do not see
any urgency on the part of our society to respond. In fact we
are still trying to figure out if we really do have an issue
that needs a National response. |
| |
| The last time I was attending a consultative meeting, people
were talking about a few states that "might" have
to implement programmes on HIV/AIDS. We are still looking at
implementing pilot studies instead of learning from the experience
of others and up-scaling accordingly. |
| |
| is heartening to know that there are a few committed people
at the top but their numbers are far too few. The burden of
addressing the epidemic rests in the hands of a few people in
the Government and a handful of dedicated NGOs and CBOs. |
| |
| We must accept that we have an epidemic on our hands and that
we are witnessing more and more people, right from housewives
to corporate employees to young college students, getting infected,
not to mention the dramatic increase in the number of children
testing positive. We cannot afford to pretend that the problem
lies only with a few marginalized communities and "target"
them (the unintended prize we pay is more denial, stigma and
fear) Maybe, in all fairness we need to question societies'
response. How can any Government respond if its peoples are
not equally responsible and create the necessary pressure of
accountability? Can we attribute this to a couple of celebrities
talking about HIV/AIDS? The need of the hour is a collective
response, since the issue affects every section of society. |
| |
| One must acknowledge that international HIV/AIDS resources
have increased over the past few years, so too has the depth
and magnitude of the epidemic and its complex manifestations.
Increasingly, the seeming inability to address the complexity
of HIV/AIDS care needs in countries dwarfed by this epidemic
has implications for the existing stereotyped prevention, care-and-support
and reduction of stigma initiatives, which are mostly top-to-
bottom strategies. For all too often, international resources
are intimately linked to the agendas of the specific donors
rather than addressing the actual needs of the concerned communities. |
| |
| Yet, on a more positive note on the battlefields of the HIV/AIDS
warfront, be it in India, Uganda, Thailand, Mexico or Botswana,
to name a few, heroes are being born and cultivated, but the
Global and National trumpets need to be sounded with greater
passion and purpose, for this again brings into perspective
the question: are the lives of people in less developed countries,
societies, and communities of less value since they are born
into these communities or countries? |
| |
| Can any war be more significant than the human devastation
called HIV/AIDS; can any war match the untold havoc to economies
and hard-earned development? Yet the idea of a global or even
a national response on a war footing exists only in the neatly
carved words of politically correct expressions and statements.
I see the epidemic and its devastation in some of the hard-hit
African countries as the harbinger of a grim future for India
in terms of the impact of the epidemic. I hope and pray that
I will be proved wrong, for it is too frightening a thought.
|
| |
| (All the views expressed in this column are entirely that
of the author) |
| |
| About
the Author |
| |
| About
Freedom Foundation |
| |
|
| |
| |
| Previous
Guest Columns |
| |
| |
| |
| |
