Drugs sold over the counter fuel HIV in India

[Guest guest]

Drugs sold over the counter fuel HIV in India

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India needs to tighten control on the sale of

prescription drugs from chemist shops to stem the spread of HIV, the

United Nations anti-AIDS agency said on Monday.

Many painkillers and sedatives are freely available over the counter

in India without any prescription from doctors or hospitals, even

though the law says they are required.

Some end up injected into drug users' veins, fuelling a drugs and

HIV/AIDS epidemic.

" The problem is the implementation of the law, " Suresh Kumar, who

advises UNAIDS and the World Health Organization, said at a news

conference.

" They are too few drug inspectors, and drug users shift to

pharmaceutical preparations that are readily available. "

Drug users, who no longer are satisfied by snorting or inhaling

illicit substances, buy drugs from chemists without prescriptions,

such as painkiller spasmoproxyvon, liquefy the powder and then inject

in their veins.

And they often share needles, resulting in the spread of

HIV.

Though only 2.6 percent of India's 5.7-million HIV-positive people

were infected by the virus through intravenous drug use, officials

say that if it is not checked, it could fuel the spread of AIDS in

the country with the world's highest caseload.

" Intravenous drug transmission may be small part of overall

transmission, but it can be a turbo engine for accelerating the

epidemic, " UNAIDS Regional Adviser Swaroop Sarkar said at an Asian

conference on HIV risk among intravenous drug users.

Many of the roughly 200,000 intravenous drug users visit prostitutes,

expanding the circle of infections.

Besides cracking down on illegal sales of drugs, experts said India

also needed to prevent oral drug-users from converting to intravenous

transmission.

Experts say that for many drug users in South Asia, the gap between

inhaling and snorting illegal substances to intravenous drug use is

two to three years, and government and international agencies should

use this period for stepping up prevention programs.

" This is a window of opportunity to intervene and prevent people from

crossing over into injecting drug use, " said Gordon Mortimore, head

of the Programme Management Office of Britain's Department for

International Development, India, which supports anti-AIDS programs.

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[Guest guest]

Dear FORUM,

Of drugs, needles and HIV, again!

While attending the AIDSINDIA conference in Tamil Nadu University, in October

2005 I spoke with a group of Missionaries nuns who were caring for a population

of youth with extremely high HIV infection rates, they said the youth were not

IVDU.

I spoke to them about the blood exposure to HIV research seminar

we just had with Dr Mariette Correa, Gisselquist, experts from NGOs, State

bodies and UN, and how the study, funded by Norwegian Church Aid, had worked to

identify, with PWA group participation and leaders such as Dr Deodatta Gore.

I spoke to the nuns about how we were trying to identify the role of

dirty needles in the epidemic in India, and then, the nuns started telling the

story of how the youth they were treating had the bad practice of intramuscular

injections with diluted pain killers.

It was clear to them that the sharing of needles were spreading HIV, THE NUNS

DIDN'T NEED CONVINCING!

But counsellors in NACO do need convincing... They have listened so much to

'global' experts, they forgot to examine the evidence from their own country!

The two year state wide study in India done by INCLEN showed over 55% injections

unafe! When are people and those in power going to react to the facts:

THE AIDS EPIDEMIC IN INDIA IS LARGELY DUE TO SHARED NEEDLES IN AND OUT OF HEALTH

CARE AND THE INDIA HIV EPIDEMIC WILL NOT STOP UNLESS THE AUTHORITIES STOP

DISCRIMINATING AGAINST PEOPLE BY MAKING BELIEVE IT IS ONLY SEX!

The story circulated by Reuters " Drugs sold over the counter fuel HIV in India "

is a case in point, showing the needles spread HIV among youth.

Nance

e-mail: <g_upham@...>

[Guest guest]

Dear all,

Just a quick follow up comment on Garance Upham:

I am glad that you brought up the issue of unsafe injections so emphatically. We

need to stress on the unsafe injection practices in and beyond the health care

system in India.

The acknowledgement of the unsafe injections as one of the important causes of

HIV infections in India is difficult for NACO or the state machinery. It brings

the focus on the state responsibility. It is easier for the government and its

appendages to stress on factors that revolve around individual responsibility as

they can blame people for the infection and failure of the programs as well.

Under the pressure of the international financial institutions, India is paving

way for privatized health care, weakening the public health care, and driving

poor people further towards quacks and unsafe health practices.

Best,

Vineeta

Vineeta Gupta. MD, JD, LL.M

Director, Stop HIV/AIDS in India Initiative

Phone 202-789-0432 Ext 207

www.shaii.org

e-mail: <guptahr@...>