The Politics of AIDS

[Guest guest]

Dear Forum Members,

I had the privilege of heading the BBC World Service Trust's HIV/AIDS media

campaign - in partnership with NACO and Prasar Bharati - between 2001 and 2003.

This was during the BJP-led government when Ministers banned most of our public

service advertisements because they promoted condoms.

Things have changed for the better under the present government, but it was that

experience which led me to research and write my book 'BODY COUNT' which

examines how moralism and religiosity around the world have obstructed an

effective public health response to the epidemic over the past 25 years. The

book is to be published this month by Viva Books in India under the title 'THE

POLITICS OF AIDS: how they turned a disease into a disaster' (ISBN 8130904144).

I shall be travelling to India in the run-up to World AIDS Day, and as a

journalist will have two questions on my mind. I would welcome responses from

AIDS INDIA FORUM members.

Question 1: Just four years ago, American intelligence experts predicted 20-25

million AIDS cases in India by 2010 ('The Next Wave of HIV/AIDS', September

2002). This scenario was endorsed by many international AIDS experts. It is

already clear that it was quite wrong.

Why? How far can it be attributed to the western world's failure to acknowledge

the effects of India's social and sexual conservatism on its domestic AIDS

crisis? Was the Govermnment of India right all along to view extreme

international concern as alarmist?

Question 2: India's generic pharmaceutical industry has a fine record in

providing affordable anti-retroviral drugs to countries in Africa. What can be

done to insure that this record is sustained in the face of United States

pressure and WTO rules? And why has India itself such a poor record in

providing ARVs to its own HIV+ people, a record worse than some countries in

Africa?

I look forward to reading any responses.

Gill

E-MAIL: <petergill@...>