Recent Media - HIV/AIDS out East
A more interesting title for this blog entry would be, "Drugs, Sex, and Oriental Soap Operas".
While this site is focused primarily on Swaziland (esp. HIV in Swaziland), I do sometimes venture elsewhere. I have recently written posts on India, Mozambique, for example.
As a kick-off to my latest world tour of HIV news stories, I have reviewed May’s leading “HIV in Asia” headlines and put together the following list of articles, each with a very short summary.
(I especially like the penultimate one, and the pre-penultimate NEJM article on China is also a good one to browse.)
Enjoy.
Half of Chinese refuse to work with HIV/AIDS carriers: report (May 14)
52 percent of survey respondents said they would not work with an HIV/AIDS carrier, while 49 percent said the same of Hepatitis B carriers. More than 55 percent of the repondents said they would not hire carriers of either disease.
Sex education creates storm in AIDS-stricken India (May 14)
Moves to bring sex out of the closet in largely conservative India have kicked up a morality debate between educators who say sex education will reduce HIV rates and critics who fear it will corrupt young minds.
Asian drug users need more HIV prevention help (May 14)
An editorial arguing that Asian countries need to wake up to the threat of HIV transmission via intravenous drug use and spend more money on needle exchanges and other programs or risk a rapid rise in new cases.
Managing Substance Abuse And HIV In Malaysia (May 14)
In Malaysia, more than 30,000 opiate-dependent patients are currently treated with such medications as naltrexone, buprenorphine, and methadone. Despite the high prevalence of HIV and other infectious diseases among addicted people, few HIV prevention efforts have targeted Malaysian drug abusers, who represent only a minority of patients receiving antiretroviral therapy.
First HIV/AIDS Diagnostic Center Opens In Northern Afghanistan (May 14)
The Center began operations today. A mere 71 HIV cases have been reported in the entire country, but health officials soberly report that the numbe could top 2,000. Refugee populations and a lack of proper testing centers are the primary reasons for the spread of HIV in Afghanistan. The Health Ministry is planning to open testing facilities in bordering provinces to prevent the spread of HIV from Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
More Thais to get AIDS drugs under deal (May 9)
Tens of thousands more Thais will receive desperately needed AIDS medicines under a deal announced by Bill Clinton to slash the cost of cutting-edge drugs. Under the deal with two Indian drugmakers, Thailand will be able to buy advanced anti-retroviral drugs at a fraction of the current cost
10M Children In South Asia Affected By HIV/AIDS, Officials Say (May 11)
While only a small portion of these children are HIV-positive, millions have one or both parents living with the virus or have been orphaned by AIDS. "The time has come to put children at the center of the debate." South Asia comprises Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. One quarter of the world’s children live in these eight countries.
China Must 'Move Quickly' To Control Spread Of HIV Because 'Situation Could Worsen Rapidly,' NEJM Perspective Says (May 8)
China is undergoing rapid social and economic change -- including migration from rural to urban areas and increases in commercial sex work and drug use. "Given China's enormous population, even a small increase in [HIV] prevalence could be devastating." Among new HIV cases in China, 48.6% are caused through injection drug use, 49.8% through sexual contact and 1.6% through mother-to-child transmission. Full NEJM article here.
South Korean Soap Opera Aims To Reduce Discrimination, Stigma Surrounding HIV (May 8)
The television soap opera, called “Thank you” aims to reduce the stigma and discrimination associated with HIV/AIDS by portraying the story of an eight-year-old, HIV-positive girl. It has been receiving top ratings in its time slot, reaching 18.5% of television viewers. A 2005 survey of South Koreans found that 52% would not send their children to school if another student was known to be HIV-positive, and that 40% of respondents thought that HIV-positive people should be quarantined in special facilities. According to United Nations estimates, South Korea’s HIV+ population could be as high as 13,000.
India's DBT And IAVI Forge Partnership To Develop 'Next Generation' Vaccine Candidates (May 3)
The Indian Government and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative have signed an agreement to partner on HIV/AIDS vaccine research and development. Under this agreement, Indian and U.S. scientists will work to accelerate the discovery of an HIV/AIDS vaccine and develop new concepts for the "next generation" of vaccines.
Labels: Media
posted by Ryan @ 5:14 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Facing the Challenges of HIV/AIDS
Around the world, more than 47 million people are now infected with the HIV/AIDS, It is now a weapon of mankind destruction. It has killed more than 30 million people worldwide according to UNAID and WHO reports since the 1st of December 1981 when it was first recognized. This makes it the worst recorded pandemic in the history of pandemics against mankind. In 2006 alone, it was reported to have killed between 2.5 to 3.5 million people with more than 380000 as children. The large number of these people killed is from the sub Saharan Africa. In some Sub-Saharan African countries, HIV/AIDS is expected to lower life expectancy by as much as 25 years.
AIDS is no longer a problem of medication. It is a problem of development. It is not just an individual hardship. It also threatens to decimate the future prospects of poor countries, wiping away years of hard-won improvements in development indicators. As a result of the disease, many poor countries are witnessing a worsening in child survival rates, reduced life expectancy, crumbling and over-burdened health care systems, the breakdown of family structures and the decimation of a generation in the prime of their working lives.
Bangladesh's socio-economic status, traditional social ills, cultural myths on sex and sexuality and a huge population of marginalised people make it extremely vulnerable to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Everyone buying sex in Bangladesh is having unprotected sex some of the time, and a large majority don’t use condoms most of the time. Behaviors that bring the highest risk of infection in Bangladesh are unprotected sex between sex workers and their clients, needle sharing and unprotected sex between men.
Though the country overall has a low prevalence rate, it has reported concentrated epidemics among vulnerable population such as IDUs. There are already localized epidemics within vulnerable groups in, and the virus would spread among the IDUs’ family or sexual partner. According to the social development specialist and AIDS researcher Mohammad Khairul Alam, “It should be realized that there is no alternative to develop and enhance life skills of vulnerable girls and women to cope with epidemic. They may be assisted on the various levels to become engaged in grooming their confidence and organized. At the same time, their voices should be allowed to be heard loud and clear. Thus the collective effort of women is born with the sense or purpose that they will be stirred up to share perceptions improving their access to reproductive health related information and services.”
In many poor countries, commercial female sex workers are frequently exposed to HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs/STDs). Where sex workers have poor access to health care and HIV prevention services, HIV prevalence can be as high as 50-90%. Evidence shows that targeted prevention interventions in sex work settings can turn the pandemic around.
Bangladesh is a high prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases, particularly among commercial sex workers; there are available injection drug users and sex workers all over the country, low condom use in the general population. Considering the high prevalence of HIV risk factors among the Bangladeshi population, HIV prevention research is particularly important for Bangladesh. It is very awful, several organization in Bangladesh are working only to prevent HIV/AIDS but few of them like as ‘Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallyan Foundation’ try to develop proper strategic plane, so should increase research based organization recently.
Poverty in Bangladesh is a deeply entrenched and complex phenomenon. Sequentially, the HIV/AIDS epidemic amplifies and become deeper poverty by its serious economic impact on individuals, households and different sectors of the economy. Poverty is the reason why messages of prevention and control do not make an impact on a vast majority of the vulnerable population.
Sources: World Bank, UNAIDS, UNICEF.
Kh. Zahir Hossain
M & E Specialist (BWSPP)
The World Bank
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Mobile: 01711453171
Zahir.hossain@gmail.com
Facing the Challenges of HIV/AIDS
Around the world, more than 47 million people are now infected with the HIV/AIDS, It is now a weapon of mankind destruction. It has killed more than 30 million people worldwide according to UNAID and WHO reports since the 1st of December 1981 when it was first recognized. This makes it the worst recorded pandemic in the history of pandemics against mankind. In 2006 alone, it was reported to have killed between 2.5 to 3.5 million people with more than 380000 as children. The large number of these people killed is from the sub Saharan Africa. In some Sub-Saharan African countries, HIV/AIDS is expected to lower life expectancy by as much as 25 years.
AIDS is no longer a problem of medication. It is a problem of development. It is not just an individual hardship. It also threatens to decimate the future prospects of poor countries, wiping away years of hard-won improvements in development indicators. As a result of the disease, many poor countries are witnessing a worsening in child survival rates, reduced life expectancy, crumbling and over-burdened health care systems, the breakdown of family structures and the decimation of a generation in the prime of their working lives.
Bangladesh's socio-economic status, traditional social ills, cultural myths on sex and sexuality and a huge population of marginalised people make it extremely vulnerable to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Everyone buying sex in Bangladesh is having unprotected sex some of the time, and a large majority don’t use condoms most of the time. Behaviors that bring the highest risk of infection in Bangladesh are unprotected sex between sex workers and their clients, needle sharing and unprotected sex between men.
Though the country overall has a low prevalence rate, it has reported concentrated epidemics among vulnerable population such as IDUs. There are already localized epidemics within vulnerable groups in, and the virus would spread among the IDUs’ family or sexual partner. According to the social development specialist and AIDS researcher Mohammad Khairul Alam, “It should be realized that there is no alternative to develop and enhance life skills of vulnerable girls and women to cope with epidemic. They may be assisted on the various levels to become engaged in grooming their confidence and organized. At the same time, their voices should be allowed to be heard loud and clear. Thus the collective effort of women is born with the sense or purpose that they will be stirred up to share perceptions improving their access to reproductive health related information and services.”
In many poor countries, commercial female sex workers are frequently exposed to HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs/STDs). Where sex workers have poor access to health care and HIV prevention services, HIV prevalence can be as high as 50-90%. Evidence shows that targeted prevention interventions in sex work settings can turn the pandemic around.
Bangladesh is a high prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases, particularly among commercial sex workers; there are available injection drug users and sex workers all over the country, low condom use in the general population. Considering the high prevalence of HIV risk factors among the Bangladeshi population, HIV prevention research is particularly important for Bangladesh. It is very awful, several organization in Bangladesh are working only to prevent HIV/AIDS but few of them like as ‘Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallyan Foundation’ try to develop proper strategic plane, so should increase research based organization recently.
Poverty in Bangladesh is a deeply entrenched and complex phenomenon. Sequentially, the HIV/AIDS epidemic amplifies and become deeper poverty by its serious economic impact on individuals, households and different sectors of the economy. Poverty is the reason why messages of prevention and control do not make an impact on a vast majority of the vulnerable population.
Sources: World Bank, UNAIDS, UNICEF.
Kh. Zahir Hossain
M & E Specialist (BWSPP)
The World Bank
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Mobile: 01711453171
Zahir.hossain@gmail.com
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