Age of Kali, aid for AIDS in India

While western media are still writing about the African AIDS tragedy, an new and more powerful crisis is on the rise in India. As Indian governments for a much too long time rejected the existence of HIV in the subcontinent and projected the illness to the demoralised western societies, the virus already holds the Indian nation in a tight grip. From big cities to small villages in the country side. And even more, the expectation are, that India will be hit much harder by AIDS in the next few years, than most of the African countries.

2003 had seen 520,000 new infections in India, the Health Ministry said there were just 28,000 in 2004. According to the official count, India has 5.13 million HIV/AIDS sufferers, while the U.N.’s estimate is up to 8.5 million. AIDS in India is spread mainly by truck-drivers, who get infected on the road-side by prostitutes and other sexual relations, then give on the virus to their families. The sex-traffic of girls across the borders to the big brothels in Mumbai, Delhi or Kolkata, supports the spread of HIV.

Putul Singh, Union coordinator of the DMSC, Kolkata, West-Bengal. Putul Singh is now a sex worker by night and activist by day. She calls AIDS her „friend,“ because, she says, „before the project no one cared if we were healthy or not. After stemming the flow of AIDS among our sisters, we want to spread the message to ordinary people too.“

Arulanandam Elango SJ, Darsi, Andhra Pradesh head of the Catholic Mission in Darsi, in the Prakasam district launched the AIDS awareness campaign in September 2002 as a response to the situation, where every village has an average of five AIDS cases.

Following one of his ideas, children are becoming powerful and effective teachers to villagers. A 16-member theatre group of boys and girls introduces the programme, by saying that there is no treatment for the illness and that prevention is the only cure. Their play goes on to explain facts about AIDS and the precautions that need to be taken. „People in this area commit suicide when they get to know they have contracted AIDS, and I plead with all so that such people may live,“ said Kunda Deepthi, 10, who is in the group. The play then portrays a dramatic sequence about the social boycott of a little girl who has fallen victim to the disease. The children involved in the programme come from St Xavier‘s orphanage, which welcomes 186 children in Darsi, a town of the district. The programme is a joint venture by the students of the local Jesuit school and a couple of Hindu doctors.

Dr. GS Surya Prakash says BCT focuses on persuading truck drivers to use condoms – more than 150,000 a year are distributed. The Bhoruka Charitable Trust (BCT) has been running a mobile clinic on National Highway 4, about 15 kilometres north of Bangalore. Surveys by BCT show more than 90 per cent of truck drivers visit commercial sex workers during trips which may last for a fortnight. Because most of the truck drivers are already have some kind of sexually transmitted disease they are more easily susceptible to HIV infection, says Dr Prakash.

Dr. Manorama from CHES, Chennai, Tamil Nadu Supports Orphans with AIDS and infected Women. When Dr. Manorama decided to open her home to two HIV-infected orphans some years ago, she set in motion a series of events that would establish CHES as a care-giver for HIV/AIDS infected persons. The Community Health Education Society (CHES)  is a Chennai -based NGO that offers refuge and solace to HIV/AIDS patients in general and infected women in particular.

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