Barcelona blues

As the 14th international AIDS conference at Barcelona winds down, new insights into this global pandemic have surfaced. Among them is the u...

As the 14th international AIDS conference at Barcelona winds down, new insights into this global pandemic have surfaced. Among them is the unmistakable conclusion that HIV/AIDS, even though it has been scaring the world for the last two decades and more, is in the early stages of its development yet. What this means is that its potential to grow in an explosive fashion is still very much on the cards, despite the remarkable medical advances to contain it. And when you are talking of a disease that has already affected 40 million people, and which claimed 3 million lives in 2001 alone, this is plain scary.

Given this reality, playing the ostrich will help no one and no nation. In fact, it is precisely those countries that have taken on the disease frontally 8212; like Brazil and Thailand 8212; which have reported the most promising breakthroughs in its successful management. Brazil, for instance, has been able to keep the numbers of new HIV infections down by establishing the legal right to free medication. Consequently, the number of those who died of AIDS in Brazil in 2000 was a third of the 1996 figure. The cost-saving in terms of a healthier population more that offsets the expenses incurred in this drug-access model of HIV/AIDS management.

So where does India stand vis-a-vis the pandemic? It may appear that we have, so far, got off fairly lightly given that only an estimated 1 per cent of the country8217;s adult population is living with HIV/AIDS. But let us not forget that this innocuous 1 per cent translates into a humongous figure of 3.97 million Indians 8212; which makes us, in terms of numbers, the worst affected nation in the world after South Africa. Yet, somehow, the enormity of this challenge in hardly reflected in our health infrastructure which has, in any case, been on the downward spiral for years, even with regard to the management of more familiar diseases like tuberculosis and malaria. One of the curious aspects of HIV/AIDS in India that has recently come to light is its higher prevalence among women. They are getting infected with the virus ten years earlier than men. According to data presented at Barcelona by an AIDS research centre in Chennai, a combination of factors, including early marriage, prostitution, and crimes against women like rape, contribute to this. The lesson then is that, as with other aspects of life, unless a woman learns to protect herself, she will continue to be the vulnerable partner.