www.infochangeindia.org
Tuesday, 21 September 2010
Short Notes

Draft HIV/AIDS bill leaves out key provisions

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Positive people's networks have protested the deletion of 38 key provisions in the latest version of the HIV-AIDS Bill which is being discussed by the law ministry and health ministry.

The bill was drafted by the health ministry and the Lawyers' Collective in 2006 after discussions with individuals and organisations representing various concerned sections of society, including people living with HIV, sex workers and injecting drug users. It was then sent to the ministry of law and justice for vetting.

In the versions sent back by the ministry, many important provisions were missing. One of the provisions not included is to guarantee emergency health services for people with HIV. HIV patients are often denied treatment in hospitals despite being an emergency, hence the need for this special provision which requires a health official to be appointed, who will give orders within 24 hours if such a situation arises.

Another missing provision in the latest version of the bill is protecting property rights of a child of parents with HIV. Often such rights are unfairly snatched away by relatives.

(Source: Azera Rahman, www.iGovernment.in, October 22, 2009, AIDS-INDIA eFORUM)

 

Mandatory testing of pregnant women for HIV

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The announcement by the India’s Parliamentary Forum on HIV and AIDS that pregnant mothers will be required to undergo an HIV test, should be viewed with concern. UNAIDS executive director Michel Sidibe is reported to have agreed with the forum's stand.

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Undernourished women get food support

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Approximately 80% of women living with HIV and AIDS in Nagaland come from families living below the poverty line. "Many of these women are too poor to even afford one square meal a day which is vital for them to gain energy to withstand the strong effects of their medications," according to the department of Women Development.

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Panchayat wants AIDS care centre to be moved out

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A village administration in Nalgonda district of Andhra Pradesh, has passed a resolution asking a community care centre for people living with HIV or AIDS to be shifted out of the village, said a source quoting a local villager. 

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NACO commits to paying for HIV treatment

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Patients suffering from AIDS need no longer worry about the heavy expenses of treatment. The National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) recently stated before the Bombay High Court that it would provide “free of cost appropriate” treatment to HIV-positive patients in the state of Maharashtra.  

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Early ART is cost effective

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As numerous studies conclude that early initiation of antiretroviral therapy reduces illness and prolongs lives, government programmes have responded with doubts of the financial sustainability of a programme that starts treatment early. The tide might soon start changing.

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Don't qualify for care

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A brief account in the AIDS INDIA egroup conveys the tragedy of people seeking care for AIDS. Jay Prakash describes his encounter with a 35-year-old man in a Delhi ART centre. The man had returned from his job abroad because of health problems, and then found out that he was positive. He was registered at a government ART centre in Delhi, but did not qualify for ART because his CD4 count was high. However, he was very weak and his weight was barely 37 kilos, when he came to a hospital for help. The hospital discharged him after some medical treatment. He was also turned away from various care homes that he approached for help, apparently because he did not qualify for admission under their guidelines.

 

Awareness campaign uses photograph without consent

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The Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society used a woman's photographs in an AIDS awareness campaign without her consent!   The newspaper report in The Times of India does not give more details on how exactly TANSACS obtained the photographs of the woman and her child but they apparently date back to when the child, now four years old, was an infant.

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