AIDS in AP: Bad and Good developments in 2006

A couple, Veeranna and Krishnamma, in Kurnool city committed suicide on January 5th of the new year as a way to deal with their HIV positive status. They left behind two young children, Erranna (10) and Veeresh (5). The younger one is HIV positive.

In December last year, a four-year old boy has been thrown out of a nursery school run by Govt. supported Venkatesh Yuvjana Sangam in Alwal, Hyderabad because the boy is HIV positive. The boy's mother, Jayalakshmi was infected with HIV by her husband, who died from AIDS three years ago. Ms Swaroopa, the school administrator, says she was forced to send the child back because of pressure from other parents: "Other parents, fearing for the safety of their children, threatened to close down the school if the HIV-positive boy continued to attend the school."

According to Indian Govt., nearly 8,000 children have been infected with HIV in 2005 alone. The UN estimates India has 5.7 million people living with HIV - the highest number of infections in the world. President Clinton called India the epicenter of the global HIV/ AIDS epidemic.

There are many such bad stories if you go back into the year. But there is also some good news.

A recent study published in a British journal BMC Medicine by Dr. Lalit Dandona found that the number of people infected with HIV in Guntur district is 45,900 less than half of the Govt.’s estimate of 112,600. Guntur district is one of the worst affected areas of A.P.

President Clinton was in Hyderabad on AIDS day (December 1st, 2006) and announced a major initiative to produce AIDS medicines for children at very low costs. His foundation will also train Indian doctors and healthcare workers in AIDS treatment.

The AP Chief Minister, Dr. Rajasekhara Reddy proposed a new law that will make it compulsory for couples to take an HIV test before marriage. He must be driven to this strong proposal based on the fact that the incidence of HIV/AIDS in AP has increased manifold in the past three years. And, 35 per cent of reported cases are among youngsters aged between 15 and 24. Unprotected pre-marital sex is cited as a reason for many of these HIV cases.

We know about HIV and AIDS a lot now and there are simple rules to follow to contain and eradicate this epidemic. The rules are called ABCDs of AIDS prevention:

(A) Abstinence: The best method for young unmarried individuals to be safe.
(B) Be Faithful: If married, mutual faithfulness is the best way of protecting oneself and one’s spouse.
(C) Condoms: Those who fail the top two rules (A and B), must use condoms.
(D) Disease control: Healthcare system should be equipped to treat the people already infected and prevent further infections by spreading awareness.

Note that anybody can get infected with HIV, but nobody has to get infected. In most cases, HIV/AIDS is 100% preventable.

According to President Clinton, "If Indians will just apply the same commitment and ingenuity to dealing with AIDS that they did to developing information technology economy, then they'll have the same results."