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| Home » Guest Column » Dr._Maxine_Olson |
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GUEST COLUMN |
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HIV/AIDS in India:
Adversities to Advantages
Dr. Maxine Olson |
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| With the second largest number of People Living
with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in the World and a fast growing epidemic,
India is faced with numerous development challenges and opportunities.
The scale and gravity of the epidemic are indeed mounting, but
the responses from the national government, civil society and
other stakeholders offer a bright sense of hope. |
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| India is still considered a low
prevalence country with the average infection rate of about
0.8 per cent among the adult population. But, translated into
absolute numbers, it means 4.58 million people living with the
virus. Several African countries which had similar prevalence
rates a decade ago are now witnessing two digit infection rates.
For instance, in South Africa, the prevalence rate is about
20 per cent or about 5.3 million people living with HIV. If
the situation in India reaches even 5 per cent, it would mean
a whopping 35 million people, much more than the total number
of people infected in the whole of Africa. I am not attempting
a doomsday prediction, but trying a simple calculation based
on the experience of other countries. The bottomline is that
India cannot afford to be a high prevalence country and the
epidemic should be contained at any cost. |
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The government of India and the Ministry of Health has taken
the lead in developing suitable responses and drawing up policies
that can effectively meet this challenge. The recent government
decision to provide free access to ARVs to children and women
who are HIV positive and to introduce ARV treatment in the high
prevalence states are commendable steps. The government's efforts
in involving PLWHA in planning and implementation of programmes,
voluntary counselling and testing and prevention of parent to
child transmission, among other initiatives, deserve
genuine appreciation. |
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The UN Theme Group on HIV/AIDS in India function as an expanded
Theme Group and has successfully brought together a large number
of stakeholders, including UN agencies, government ministries
including NACO (National AIDS Control Organisation), bilateral
donor organizations, civil society partners and PLWHA organisations
in developing a strong and integrated response to HIV and developmental
issues. The Theme Group has initiated a project that is partially
supported by the UK's Department for International Development:
'Towards an Extraordinary Response to HIV/AIDS in India (2002-
2006)'. The purpose of the project is to enhance the capacities
of the UN system in providing support and strengthening the
National Programme for an extraordinary response to HIV/AIDS.
In addition, a joint UN project called 'CHARCA'
(Coordinated HIV/AIDS Response through Capacity-building and
Awareness), is being implemented in six districts in partnership
with NACO, State AIDS Control Societies, district administration
and services, NGOs, community-based organizations and women's
groups. |
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| Over the past year, several UN agencies have facilitated collaborative
responses within the region and in India, which have significantly
impacted both the spread and manifestation of the epidemic. |
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| In order to sustain and enhance the impact of the wide ranging
initiatives, what is needed foremost is committed leadership
from all sectors and levels of society. UNDP's Leadership for
Results assumes special significance in this context. The programme
in India has catalysed unprecedented commitment and response
from civil society, government, PLWHA and arts and media. |
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| As the Resident Representative in Malaysia, I had the opportunity
of seeing first hand the outcome of our Leadership Programme.
The development of local capacities and the creative use of
transformational methodologies for attaining breakthrough results
in this process have been encouraging. We need to expand our
efforts to create leadership that traverses the different levels
and sectors of societies. The HIV/AIDS epidemic as seen from
the development lens challenges our traditional technical cooperation
modalities. We need to reach further, in more profound ways
to influence people's fundamental attitudes and beliefs, to
change our modus operandi as needed. If we succeed, we can achieve
the double benefit of helping to reverse the epidemic, and strengthening
the organisations' capacities for present and future challenges. |
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