Understanding AIDS to fight it

by SHITU RAJBHANDARI

FROM ISSUE # 156 (December 2008) | IN THIS ISSUE
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HIV/AIDS is not a new word in our lives. We first felt its presence in 1988 when the first AIDS case was reported in Nepal. Over the years there have been many campaigns and awareness programs that focused on controlling the epidemic in our country. But there seem to be shortcomings in this movement – a UNAIDS report published in 2008 says there are approximately 70,000 Nepalis infected with HIV in Nepal, out of which 92 percent of the infected are currently between the age of 15-49.
 
The large number of young people infected by the disease raises many questions in terms of the awareness amongst the largest chunk of Nepal's population. "Education doesn't necessarily translate into information but I feel there should be proper information about HIV/AIDS in the academic courses," says Astha Rizal (bottome right)s who runs Between Us, a youth-based program initiated by Youth Initiative that focuses on spreading awareness about HIV/AIDS. Astha tells us about her own personal experience of the teacher telling the students to study the bit about reproductive health on their own. "Such things should be avoided because it's in schools that young people learn most of what they know," says Astha, "if the teachers are uncomfortable teaching about it then there's no way the students are going to get proper information." She feels lucky to have been involved in a peer education program in Illam which directed the course of her life and got her involved in working for HIV/AIDS awareness.

On the other hand, Miraz Khan (as seen on the picture on the left) of Friends Affected and Infected Together in Hand (FAITH) begs to differ,  "its not that they aren't aware. The biggest cause of infection in this age group is through sharing needles and at times even if the drug user knows that it could infect them, drugs makes a person so dependent that they are willing to take the chance with their life for that momentary high," says Miraz who spent 14 years of his life addicted to drugs. He calls them the dark years of his life, but he came out of those years determined to take the good path and start FAITH with like-minded people to do away with the stigma and self pity and be an example of how efficient and professional people with HIV/AIDS too can be. Miraz believes in harmony between the people tested positive and society, and that's what he and his friends are trying to create through their organisation. 

Similarly, Ekta, also an ex-drug addict says, "We all think that the main cause of getting infected is ignorance but at times over-exposure too can have a negative effect. If you look at the data, the Injecting Drug Users (IDU) are mostly from urban areas of the country. I come from a good family in Kathmandu and had good education but I chose drugs." Ekta now works for National Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Nepal (NAP+N) and advocates for the rehabilitation and reintegration of women drug user.  Both of them believe that one way to prevent more young people getting infected by the virus is to stop the sharing of needles and give the drug addicts hope. Hope that if they stop, they can get back into society and start afresh. "But it's not enough just to say 'don't do drugs', everyone knows that, we need to show them what drugs can do to you," says Ekta.

Sudin who works with Ekta at NAP+N as the national coordinator on the other hand says, "The lack of political commitment is a huge blockage in the path of general awareness too. Add to that the conservative society where talking about sex and HIV is still seen as a taboo." Miraz, Ekta and Astha echoed the same about our society and with the rise of migrant workers the number of innocent housewives being infected by their husbands is increasing. "The best way to deal with this problem is public and private partnership," says Miraz, "if the private sector is strong then the government will take notice. Because without a demand there will be no change." 

"We have numbers," says Ekta, "but they haven't changed in many years which shows how people are still not comfortable to even go and get tested." Sudin reasons with it and says, "people need to be assured that even if the test result is positive there are ways to deal with it, the pre-testing counselling and post-counselling services should be made strong." Reena Lama, who is also working for FAITH agrees with Sudin and says, "proper message of 'care, support and treatment,' should be given out so that people are more open to the virus and look at it as a disease and not a result of loose character." Born on 1 December, which is World AIDS day, Reena jokingly says she was born to do this and believes that a proper bridge between the powerful and those working in the field should be created to fight the virus.

There are a lot of should-be-done factors while dealing with the virus but just as Ekta and Miraz, who despite the wrong choices they made, are willing to take the lead to decrease the dangerous implications of this disease for the future, we too should be part of the battle. Sudin, Reena and Astha have spoken up, now it's our turn. Ignoring the fact and stigmatising the already ostracised group is not the answer to dealing with this problem any more, neither is shying away from facts of life because it's not the done thing. In the words of Miraz, "We need to understand the problem to find a solution to it, for that we need to understand the people who are living with the virus."