AIDS-stricken AP fights back

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AIDS-stricken AP fights back

The Times of India, New Delhi-23 July 2001

By Parula Chandra

HYDERABAD: Leelamma (not her real name) is painfully thin. But at least she can

move around now, which wasn't the case until some months ago. " I couldn't even

sit or stand, " says the bespectacled mother of two. He blood was tested. The

diagnosis-Leelamma was HIV positive just like her husband.

That was eight months ago. Now Leelamma is staying at a care and support center

for HIV/AIDS-affected people in Hyderabad's twin city, Secunderabad, run by an

NGO, Freedom Foundation. Her husband, though not very well, has had to return to

his work of a coolie after spending some time at the centre. After all, somebody

has to take care of the couple's two children.

And while the village community pitched in to take care of the children while

the couple was away, they told her, " Don't come here " Word uttered with

stoicism, not bitterness.

Leelamma is just one of an estimated three lakh persons in the state who are

believed to be infected with AIDS causing virus. Numbers which give chief

minister Chandrababu Naidu's state the dubious distinction of having the second

largest number of HIV-positive people (after Maharashtra) in the country.

Alarming certainly for a state where the first HIV positive case was detected in

1986.

But with the carrying out an intensive AIDS Control Programme, state authorities

hope to contain the spread of the deadly virus. Spearheading the battle is the

Andhra Pradesh State AIDS Control Society (APSACS) with partial funding from the

World Bank.

A detailed 'strategic response' to contain AIDS has been drawn up APSACS. And

part of the strategy also includes tackling the spread of sexually transmitted

diseases (STD). And not without reason. According to 1998 statistics, nearly 24

per cent of the persons who attended STD clinics in the state were also tested

positive for HIV.

Among those targeted to help check the spread of STD are commercial sex workers

(CSWs), those living in slums, prison inmates, and street children. Reaching out

to CSWs was no easy task in Hyderabad since they function from the streets

instead of a fixed place. After gaining their confidence, some among them were

chosen as peer-educators to educate others about STD and AIDS.

As Geeta (not her real name), a CSW, says, " AIDS ke liye koi dawa bhi nahin hi

(There is no cure for AIDS) " . Also introduced was the novel concept of " social

marketing " of condoms where the CSWs get to keep some money from the stock's

sale.

As for prison inmates, APSACS launched the Partnerships for Sexual Health Prison

Project in 12 prisons in the state. In Hyderabad, for instance the project was

launched in Chanchalguda prison, which houses some 1,600 inmates, in June last

year.

The objective is to concentrate on STD treatment and counseling and creating

awareness about AIDS, says project coordinator Chetan Pillai.

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Forwarded by: Dr. Jagdish Harsh

François Xavier Bagnoud India Society

161, Satya Niketan, Moti Bagh-II,

New Delhi-110 021, INDIA.

Tel: +91.11.611 1793-94; Fax: +91.11.410 7381

Email: fxbindia@...; Web: http://www.fxb.org/india.htm

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