Remove stigma to defeat HIV/AIDS in India, says UN envoy

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Remove stigma to defeat HIV/AIDS in India, says UN envoy

By Indo Asian News Service

Guwahati, Sep 26 (IANS) The stigmatisation of HIV/AIDS is a major

hindrance in controlling the fast-spreading disease in India, says a

top UN official.

'Stigma and discrimination are indeed problem areas in tackling

HIV/AIDS in India,' said Nafis Sadik, special envoy of the UN

secretary general for HIV/AIDS in Asia and the Pacific.

'There is acceptance of the problem at the highest level, although

lots needs to be done to make it (the disease) acceptable in the

society which is still in a denial mode,' Sadik told journalists.

Sadik is in Assam's main city of Guwahati on a two-day visit to

review the HIV/AIDS scenario in India's northeast.

'We need to step up the level of awareness about HIV/AIDS and make

sure we are able to deal with it more like a public health issue,'

she said.

India accounts for about 5.2 million HIV-positive people, second

only to South Africa. India's northeast has been declared as one of

the country's high-risk zones with close to 100,000 people infected

with HIV.

'The epidemic is spreading rapidly to the general population by way

of transmission from infected parents to the infants and from

spouses to young married women,' Sadik said.

'Nearly 60 percent of the younger generation who contracted the

virus is below the age of 25.' According to the UN envoy, Asian

migrant workers are highly vulnerable to HIV with most of them

sexually abused and many end up becoming sex workers.

'Nearly 10 percent of the people in Philippines are migrant workers

of whom nearly 60 percent are women working as domestic help and

doing odd jobs in the Gulf and other countries. Nearly 23 percent of

the migrants who have returned home were found to be HIV positive

and this is a real big problem,' she said.

Sadik urged the states to be 'lot more vigilant' to check the spread

of HIV/AIDS among migrant workers. 'You have people from Nepal

coming to India and there is also some linkage between these workers

and HIV/AIDS,' she warned.

The UN official cautioned that human trafficking was a much bigger

problem than drug trade. 'Human trafficking is a huge issue as many

of them are used as sex workers,' Sadik said.

Gullible young girls from India's northeast are being forced into

prostitution in the metropolises after being lured by organised

syndicates promising them glamorous careers and lucrative jobs, a

rights group has said.

'The situation is extremely serious with smart operators flooding

the northeast hunting for good looking young girls for modelling

assignments or jobs in call centres with good salaries,' said Hasina

Kharbih, chairperson of Impulse NGO Network, a rights group working

in rescuing women trafficked from the northeast.

'But in reality, many of these women were pushed into the notorious

world of prostitution.' The group has rescued about 50 girls from

various parts of India in the past two years.

Copyright Indo-Asian News Service

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