How successful is HIV Prevention programmes for women (AMIT DWIVEDI)
Published in
United Bharat
Allahabad
United Bharat
Allahabad
MICROBICIDES: A new STI prevention option for women (AMIT DWIVEDI)
Published in
Swatantra VAARTHA
Hyderabad
Swatantra VAARTHA
Hyderabad
Koodankulam must be a symbol of prosperity
The New Indian Express
Saturday 12 May 2007
Online at: http://www.newindpress.com/newspages.asp?page=2&Title=Second+Article&
DR SANDEEP PANDEY
es up is that of the nuclear power plant coming up there with Russian
help. Two reactors which have been imported from
An Indian official has ad
mitted in a public interview that
Attempts to initiate fresh mining activities in Andhra Pradesh and Meghalaya have not succeeded mainly due to public protests. Though the Government of India officially doesn’t acknowledge this, people have become aware that the entire nuclear cycle from mining to power production poses health hazards due to radiation. Members of almost every family in
The Indo-US nuclear deal is anachronistic. The 45–member Nuclear Suppliers Group, ignoring the contravention of Non- Proliferation Treaty, is willing to exploit the Indian ambition of being recognised as a legitimate nuclear power with possibly a seat in the Security Council, so that a big new market is available to them.
The deal, which does not have approval of the Indian par
liament is not in the interest of people of this country and must be rejected.
In a public hearing conducted by the people, after the authorities had postponed their public hearing thrice, in Tuticorin on
Koursingh, a young fisherman from the vicinity of Koodankulam, said that his community was never afraid of rough sea. Tsunami created some fear in the minds of people but that didn’t last long. However, the talk of nuclear power plant has given rise to uncertainty in their lives. The horrible stories of damage to human health due to radiation has created a psychological fear in the minds of people which has taken away all the peace and happiness. Initha, a woman from the community, said that when there were children born with deformities earlier they attributed it to the design of God.
But now, with cases of fisherfolk women around Kalpakkam reporting still births, miscarriages, thyroid disorders and other gynaecological defects, they feel it is a disgrace and humiliation to the community as well as to the nation. Initha went on to say passionately that she didn’t mind sacrificing her life if it would help to have future generations. Siluvai Antony asked when there would be displacement of their lives and livelihood where will they get another place and another sea for their survival? The fisherfolk community, which is the largest population to be affected by the Koodankulam nuclear power plant, is in no mood to give up easily.
Dr Kuglandi from Kalpakkam informed that based on random sampling it was found that 2-4 cancer deaths in a population of one lakh per year is normal. However, in Kalpakkam this ratio is 3 in a population of 25,000. The tourists who come to Mamallapuram avoid eating the fish here, which strangely enough does not attract flies like it does elsewhere.
Obviously, for the people in Koodankulam the nuclear power plant is an impending danger which has created a disturbance in their lives. The only way to dispel this fear is to give up the nuclear option in favour of the innocuous wind mills. Koodankulam should become a symbol of prosperity based on power from the wind. The monster that is the nuclear power plant must not come to life. The plan to add more reactors must be junked.
The threat to fishing and farming in all the southern districts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala like Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari, Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Pathanamthitta, the coconut trees, palmyra trees, tamarind trees and banana plantations must be warded off. The fisherfolk and farmers must continue to live happily as before.
The author is recipient of Ramon Magsaysay Award 2002 for emergent leadership, and leads National
JANSATTA Editorial of AMIT DWIVEDI: Tobacco control and movies, cinema
अमित द्विवेदी का लेख
तम्बाकू नियांतरण एवं फिल्म
अप्रील २७, 2007
Has NREGS lived up to its expectations?
Has NREGS lives up to its expectations?
The Economic Times,
The architectural marvel was built on the banks of
NREGA was enacted after a long struggle and a hard-hitting resistance from the industrial lobby, corporate media and plethora of economists representing “Shining India” led by the finance ministry. After one year of NREGA implementation, the picture looks more grim than positive. There are reports of massive fabrication of muster rolls and job cards, low awareness level preventing people from claiming entitlements, use of machines and contractors, negligible provision of facilities, top down approach in selection of work, invisibility of women, use of violence and repression and payments even below minimum wages.
The muster rolls are sacred books not to been seen by outcastes like labourers but social audits are fashionable. The fabrication has not only led to huge siphoning off of money but also taken away days from the legal entitlement of hundred days. By relying on current minimum wage standards and making payments by measurement of the work, the government has punctured the Act, as payments go far below the minimum wages. The attempt to do justice in the employment sphere is scuttled by the injustice on wages. The question is whether there is the usual apathy and corruption or is there any systematic plan to sabotage the Act?
The low allocation for present 330 districts in the current budget is an indication that Acts like NREGA are systematically prevented from ealizing their full potential. The success of NREGA depends not entirely on economics but on politics. It remains to be seen whether the dominant economic politics is defeated by people’s politics that is evident in struggles and growing discontent in every nook and corner of the country.
(Adviser, Supreme Court Commissioner on Right to Food)
Don't Forget Workers on International Labour Day
The
1 May 2007
Don't Forget Workers on International Labour Day
Today (
ot engaged and their voices not heard, especially today?
THE
International Labour Day is observed to pay homage to the workers who had laid down their lives for Labour rights in
One doesn't have to go very far from
Moving away from the
During the social audit the workers got to know that the actual due wage is Rs 58 per day, whereas they were being paid arbitrarily anything between Rs 30-40 per day before.
Chandralekha, who hails from Natpurwa village, infamous for 350 years old sex-work trade in Hardoi district, laments that despite of lobbying for more than 7 years, she got no response from authorities. Most of the population of natpurwa village will qualify to get BPL (Below Poverty Line) cards and therefore be entitled to get free rashion from public distribution system (PDS) under Antodaya Scheme. In reality, not even a single person has got BPL card or rashion supply under antodaya scheme so far in Natpurwa.
This is a dangerous trend, where we do have special days on calendar like International Labour Day, but while observing May Day today forget to involve the most important stakeholder – the workers' themselves. With vast majority of people working in unorganized sector, it becomes all the more important to raise awareness about rights of these workers so that they are not subjected to abuse or exploitation, says Dr Sandeep Pandey, noted social activist and recipient of Ramon Magsaysay Award 2002. It is also important to provide security to these workers, like landless farmers for example. If they stop growing food, what will we eat then, asks another activist Mahesh Kumar of Kanpur.
A senior government official on condition of anonymity says that it is a huge challenge to talk of rights and regulations in unorganized sector. Not only corporate powers are slowing down the process, but also those whose vested interests are at stake. Real democracy and end of feudalism will only happen when we are able to restore dignity of life for every landless labourer, said he.
Let's hope the policy makers are listening!
Multiplex Mobile Medical Unit: Responding to diverse HIV healthcare needs
‘Multiplex Mobile Medical Units’:
The healthcare needs of underserved communities are diverse and manifold. With HIV pandemic ravaging through India, and appalling healthcare systems, the need is compelling to integrate different tenets of healthcare services to make effective comprehensive HIV prevention, treatment, care and support a reality. Bobby Ramakant writes on such a model intervention which brings together different healthcare services under one ‘Multiplex Mobile Medical Unit’ moving through Gujarat villages in India.
Gujarat AIDS Prevention Unit (GAP) collaborated with The Brooklyn Hospital Center, USA and American Indian Association (AIA) to respond to these needs by coming up with a Multiplex Mobile Medical Unit, which is reasonably well-equipped
bringing together medical, nursing, psychosocial counselling and pastoral care services for thousands of people from underserved communities in rural Gujarat (many of them living with HIV). The Brooklyn Hospital Center (USA) has sent a team of senior medical experts as well.
HIV gradually subdues the immune system of people living with the virus so that opportunistic infections (OIs) such as candidiasis, meningitis and tuberculosis can then exploit the body’s weakened defences. People living in poorer parts of Indi
a often have no access to clean water and sanitation, have bad nutrition and already weak health status, and are constantly challenged by a variety of infectious diseases. These factors place them at greater risk of HIV-associated OIs and are believed to significantly shorten the interval between initial HIV infection and the onset of AIDS-related conditions. As a result, HIV/AIDS is often called the ‘quintessential disease of poverty’.
Stigma associated with HIV prevailing in communities is enormous and has impeded the AIDS response of India considerably, said Dr Radium Bhattacharya, P
resident of Indian Network of NGOs on HIV/AIDS (INN) and Chairperson of Gujarat AIDS Prevention Unit (GAP).
People with high-risk lifestyles or those living with HIV have to confront huge levels of stigma at every step – even within the healthcare settings. This makes it all the more difficult for them to have access to existing health services including HIV testing, detection of sexually transmitted infections (STI), STI treatment, regular screenings for opportunistic infections (OIs) and treatments (especially TB which continues to be the largest killer of people living with HIV despite of the fact that TB treatment is available free of cost and TB is curable!), nutritional counseling and food security, and not-to-forget other specialized medical care including antenatal care, paediatric care, and general medicine as well.
Quality counseling of people (with or without HIV) is very important.
Most of the people with high risk behaviours in their lives have been craving for compassion and deprived of access to information and services as well. It is vital for counselors to establish a rapport with individuals before trying to redress their problems. Nothing is more therapeutic than compassionate shoulder, says Dr Radium.
Multiplex mobile medical unit is a response to the needs of the community in rural areas. The challenge was to provide high-quality medical care, which is free of cost (affordable), within the reach of people in their own communities (mobile clinics are accessible) and provide for an array of services from counseling, testing, medical care and provision of medicines as well. All the staff working in these mobile clinics demonstrated high sensitivity to issues around HIV, and people living with HIV have themselves taken leadership in putting up the camp as well.
India at least has more than 5 million people living with HIV. The incidence of HIV in rural India is rising. With gravely inadequate healthcare system to fall back upon, it is critically important to bolster our public education and health literacy programmes in rural India, said Dr Radium Bhattacharya, who also volunteers for AIDS CARE WATCH global campaign (http://www.aidscarewatch.org/).
With inadequate treatment programmes especially those of anti-retroviral (ARV) therapy, the number of people requiring 2nd line drugs is alarming. GAP is providing 2nd line ARV therapy to 5 patients who had developed resistance against 1st line ARV therapy earlier.
Jogender Upadhyay, a force behind community mobilization at GAP, said that Multiplex Mobile Medical Unit is a resultant of a survey on the needs of medical services carried out in the last 3 years in 20 villages of Prantij Taluka in Sabarkantha district (Gujarat). Total population of these three villages is around 60,000. These mobile medical units are providing family health counseling, reproductive and sexual health counseling, free condom demonstration and distribution, pre-test voluntary counseling, check up for opportunistic infections, sexually transmitted infections and reproductive tract infections and appropriate treatment, nutritional support, TB counseling, drug adherence counseling and treatment literacy, gender and foeticide awareness by multiple ways including poster exhibitions, street plays, games and inter-personal communication with the expert counselors.
There are some simple approaches to keep people with HIV alive. Many of them are already readily available, affordable and effective:
- Voluntary counselling and testing for HIV as the entry point for access to all health care services and self management
- Prevention and treatment of tuberculosis (TB) in people living with HIV
- Drugs to treat/prevent other opportunistic infections (e.g., cotrimoxazole, fluconazole etc)
- Home- and community-based care approaches
- Tackling HIV-related stigma, especially in health care settings, which often keeps people away from health services
- Pharmacotherapy (e.g., methadone) for recovering injection drug users
- Traditional healing and treatment approaches
- Promoting food security and micronutrient provision.
People living with HIV often become entry points to communities in the provision of integrated AIDS-related services. This initiative is also effective in community education and delivery of a broad range of AIDS care services at the doorstep of the people in rural India. Community members are glad that quality healthcare services have been brought home for them.
‘HIV is not a death sentence’ said a person living with HIV who came to this mobile medical unit. He firmly believes that AIDS-related conditions can be prevented and treated with established forms of care, support and treatment.
Such initiatives bring hope to people living with HIV. With 70% of Indian population in rural areas, the massive challenge is to make such interventions sustainable and replicable across the country.
Bobby Ramakant
(The author is a health and development journalist writing for newspapers in Asia, Middle East and Africa. He is a Key Correspondent to HDN (www.TheCorrespondent.org). He can be contacted at: bobbyramakant@yahoo.com)
Central Chronicle (Bhopal, MP): 2 May 2007
http://www.centralchronicle.com/20070502/0205304.htm
Scoop Independent News (New Zealand): 2 May 2007
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00049.htm
The Seoul Times (South Korea): 1 May 2007
http://theseoultimes.com/ST/?url=/ST/db/read.php?idx=5231
Samachar.Com (UK) and Yahoo! News
http://justsamachar.com/search?q=mobile+medical+units&c=8
Technorati.com
http://technorati.com/tag/AIDS
Responding to diverse HIV healthcare needs
Bobby Ramakant
Bobby Ramakant
The healthcare needs of underserved communities are diverse and manifold. With HIV pandemic ravaging through India, and appalling healthcare systems, the need is compelling to integrate different tenets of healthcare services to make effective comprehensive HIV prevention, treatment, care and support a reality. Bobby Ramakant writes on such a model intervention which brings together different healthcare services under one ‘Multiplex Mobile Medical Unit’ moving through Gujarat villages in India.
Gujarat AIDS Prevention Unit (GAP) collaborated with The Brooklyn Hospital Center, USA and American Indian Association (AIA) to respond to these needs by coming up with a Multiplex Mobile Medical Unit, which is reasonably well-equipped
bringing together medical, nursing, psychosocial counselling and pastoral care services for thousands of people from underserved communities in rural Gujarat (many of them living with HIV). The Brooklyn Hospital Center (USA) has sent a team of senior medical experts as well.HIV gradually subdues the immune system of people living with the virus so that opportunistic infections (OIs) such as candidiasis, meningitis and tuberculosis can then exploit the body’s weakened defences. People living in poorer parts of Indi
a often have no access to clean water and sanitation, have bad nutrition and already weak health status, and are constantly challenged by a variety of infectious diseases. These factors place them at greater risk of HIV-associated OIs and are believed to significantly shorten the interval between initial HIV infection and the onset of AIDS-related conditions. As a result, HIV/AIDS is often called the ‘quintessential disease of poverty’.Stigma associated with HIV prevailing in communities is enormous and has impeded the AIDS response of India considerably, said Dr Radium Bhattacharya, P
resident of Indian Network of NGOs on HIV/AIDS (INN) and Chairperson of Gujarat AIDS Prevention Unit (GAP).People with high-risk lifestyles or those living with HIV have to confront huge levels of stigma at every step – even within the healthcare settings. This makes it all the more difficult for them to have access to existing health services including HIV testing, detection of sexually transmitted infections (STI), STI treatment, regular screenings for opportunistic infections (OIs) and treatments (especially TB which continues to be the largest killer of people living with HIV despite of the fact that TB treatment is available free of cost and TB is curable!), nutritional counseling and food security, and not-to-forget other specialized medical care including antenatal care, paediatric care, and general medicine as well.
Quality counseling of people (with or without HIV) is very important.
Most of the people with high risk behaviours in their lives have been craving for compassion and deprived of access to information and services as well. It is vital for counselors to establish a rapport with individuals before trying to redress their problems. Nothing is more therapeutic than compassionate shoulder, says Dr Radium.Multiplex mobile medical unit is a response to the needs of the community in rural areas. The challenge was to provide high-quality medical care, which is free of cost (affordable), within the reach of people in their own communities (mobile clinics are accessible) and provide for an array of services from counseling, testing, medical care and provision of medicines as well. All the staff working in these mobile clinics demonstrated high sensitivity to issues around HIV, and people living with HIV have themselves taken leadership in putting up the camp as well.
India at least has more than 5 million people living with HIV. The incidence of HIV in rural India is rising. With gravely inadequate healthcare system to fall back upon, it is critically important to bolster our public education and health literacy programmes in rural India, said Dr Radium Bhattacharya, who also volunteers for AIDS CARE WATCH global campaign (http://www.aidscarewatch.org/).
With inadequate treatment programmes especially those of anti-retroviral (ARV) therapy, the number of people requiring 2nd line drugs is alarming. GAP is providing 2nd line ARV therapy to 5 patients who had developed resistance against 1st line ARV therapy earlier.
Jogender Upadhyay, a force behind community mobilization at GAP, said that Multiplex Mobile Medical Unit is a resultant of a survey on the needs of medical services carried out in the last 3 years in 20 villages of Prantij Taluka in Sabarkantha district (Gujarat). Total population of these three villages is around 60,000. These mobile medical units are providing family health counseling, reproductive and sexual health counseling, free condom demonstration and distribution, pre-test voluntary counseling, check up for opportunistic infections, sexually transmitted infections and reproductive tract infections and appropriate treatment, nutritional support, TB counseling, drug adherence counseling and treatment literacy, gender and foeticide awareness by multiple ways including poster exhibitions, street plays, games and inter-personal communication with the expert counselors.
There are some simple approaches to keep people with HIV alive. Many of them are already readily available, affordable and effective:
- Voluntary counselling and testing for HIV as the entry point for access to all health care services and self management
- Prevention and treatment of tuberculosis (TB) in people living with HIV
- Drugs to treat/prevent other opportunistic infections (e.g., cotrimoxazole, fluconazole etc)
- Home- and community-based care approaches
- Tackling HIV-related stigma, especially in health care settings, which often keeps people away from health services
- Pharmacotherapy (e.g., methadone) for recovering injection drug users
- Traditional healing and treatment approaches
- Promoting food security and micronutrient provision.
People living with HIV often become entry points to communities in the provision of integrated AIDS-related services. This initiative is also effective in community education and delivery of a broad range of AIDS care services at the doorstep of the people in rural India. Community members are glad that quality healthcare services have been brought home for them.
‘HIV is not a death sentence’ said a person living with HIV who came to this mobile medical unit. He firmly believes that AIDS-related conditions can be prevented and treated with established forms of care, support and treatment.
Such initiatives bring hope to people living with HIV. With 70% of Indian population in rural areas, the massive challenge is to make such interventions sustainable and replicable across the country.
Bobby Ramakant
(The author is a health and development journalist writing for newspapers in Asia, Middle East and Africa. He is a Key Correspondent to HDN (www.TheCorrespondent.org). He can be contacted at: bobbyramakant@yahoo.com)
Published in:
Central Chronicle (Bhopal, MP): 2 May 2007
http://www.centralchronicle.com/20070502/0205304.htm
Scoop Independent News (New Zealand): 2 May 2007
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00049.htm
The Seoul Times (South Korea): 1 May 2007
http://theseoultimes.com/ST/?url=/ST/db/read.php?idx=5231
Samachar.Com (UK) and Yahoo! News
http://justsamachar.com/search?q=mobile+medical+units&c=8
Technorati.com
http://technorati.com/tag/AIDS
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