WTC AND AIDS: MAKING THE CONNECTION

[Guest guest]

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 are all 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.

It 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.

________________

Ashok K. Rau

Ashok. K. Rau, one of the most visible and compassionate faces of

India's 's campaign against HIV/AIDS, is a co-founder of Freedom

Foundation, the Banagalore based NGO working in the field of

substance abuse and HIV/AIDS. A highly resourceful professional of

regional and international repute, Mr. Rau is a special guest of

YouandAIDS this month in view of Freedom Foundation winning the

prestigious Commonwealth Award for Action on HIV/AIDS.

An experienced psychotherapist, Mr. Rau established the Freedom

Foundation in 1992 in Bangalore along with friend and colleague, Mr.

Karl Sequiera to address the needs of people suffering from

alcohlolism and substance abuse. Three years later, recognising the

link between subsatance abuse and HIV and the need for a meaningful

response, a centre for HIV/AIDS was set up. The Foundation has since

expanded to cover places like Bellary, Mangalore, Udipi and Hyderabad.

Realising that addiction is a mind-altering disease, which can be

treated, a unique bio-psycho-socio model, specific to the Indian

context is employed at the deaddiction and rehabilitation centre. In

1996, when the Foundation opened its day care centre for HIV positive

people in Hennur, it was hailed as the first of its kind in the

country. In 1999, the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO)

recognised its contribution and identified it as a national model for

low-cost care.

Today Mr. Rau is a distinguished expert and an international

consultant on care and support for PLWHAs (People Living With

HIV/AIDS). He is a member of the National AIDS committee and the

National Technical Resource Group on the Legal and Ethical issues of

HIV/AIDS. He is also a member of the HIV/AIDS Task Force of the

Karnataka State government and the Executive and the Technical

committees and the Joint Appraisal Team of the Karnataka State AIDS

Control Society.

Through Freedom Foundation, Mr. Rau articulates the need for

unhindered access to quality care for PLWHAs and recognising their

rights. His approach to HIV/AIDS is marked by compassion for humanity

and the recognition of the rights of deprived communities and

individuals. He involves positive people in the planning and decision

making process of Freedom Foundation and campaigns for protective and

instrumental laws and change in government policies in favour of

positive people. He contributes to the literature, research and

discussion on HIV/AIDS and disseminates the lessons learnt at the

Foundation. He is also involved in the training of caregivers, NGOs,

CBOs and strives to build the capacity of other organisations.

Mr. Rau's use of the network of community leaders at district and

village panchayat levels, spiritual leaders and media personnel to

spread messages for awareness-creation and destigmatisation of the

disease is also widely appreciated.

(Mr. Ashok K. Rau could be contacted at freedom@... or

ashokrau@...)

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