i need ur help

i hv got exposed one and a half months ago and hv taken safety measures but am damm scared about this hiv infection. now what do i do?

can this b cured now if at all i am infected. will regular blood test in the hospitals do? is that enough to get tested and how long will it take

me to know that am clean from this virus permanently?

plz help me.. ineed some one 2 help me

sunil_atmakuri@rediffmail.com is mu mail id plss take some time and mail me..

                   thanx 
                    ur truly  

                       sunil  

just wanted to thank you for posting this video. it’s the sweetest melody and the video tugs the heart for the loss of something i’ve never had. :-/

AIDS, on the other hand, has an expensive treatement. Can you imagine the cost when Government of India spends thousands (or lakhs) of rupees per AIDS patient? They’ll need a ministry ( a much coveted, juicy job) to handle this. Moreover, unlike polio, AIDS just keeps on coming. Free treatment means that whores, I mean sex workers, aaaahhh forget it, whores will not insist their clients to use condoms. What the hell! If she gets AIDS, she’s got a free treatment waiting for her. As for the clients, it’s champagne time!! As for the middlemen, politicans, adulterators (both kinds, the ones who cheat on their spouse and the ones who make bad drugs) will have a field day.

I know this is a stupid question but I don’t know any whores. Do all whores behave like you describe? Only the ones in India or do the American ones think this way as well? The reason I ask is because I think you can get Medicaid to pay for treatments in the States, so there must already be an incentive to get AIDS here. Is this insight from studies here being extrapolated to India or have there been independent studies in India about the whores and their interests in free treatments? I didn’t quite get the adulterators remark either.

A stark fact: Most of the UN funds for research into AIDS, and almost all of American and European funds for AIDS research does not benefit the affected population in Africa, Asia and South America. Reason: Dominant HIV strains in the US and Europe are different from the strains prevalent in developing countries. Even here, the African strain is different from the one found in India.It is any body’s guess as to which strain the scientific research is focused on (for the most part that is).

Clades (strains)that are extant in the African and Asian continents are still susceptible to the AntiRetroVirals that are developed stateside. As far as vaccinations are concerned, where the clades will make a difference, we barely have an idea what makes a good vaccine for anything. If a good vaccine can be easily “designed” with the European or American clades in mind then the Asian or African ones will be easy too. It just isn’t easy to design vaccines for what ever clade you are looking at. If you throw in the HLA types into the mix then the shit really hits the fan.

For what it is worth, there are clinical trials afoot in Kenya, that have a multi clade vaccine designed by BIG GOVT from the US. If it is any good the trial will be expanded.

In the healthcare business in India, the private sector has stepped in ably to provide top notch care for the wealthy and middle classes with the Apollo and Escorts systems and health insurance companies. Where does that leave the indigent?

PS: Polio eradication was a massive GOVT effort. Here and elsewhere. Not a good example for the private sector goodness. Same with small pox. They are working on malaria/TB etc with massive GOVT funding. The Gates folks are johnny come latelies in the business.

PPS: “Lifestyle choice” or not, the cost to society is still the same.

MoorNam,

NGO initiative alone will not be enough.The government, people, NGOs, every one has to chip in.

Also, Neha is right. The Union govt and various State govts, have achieved great success with Polio in India.There is a guaranteed treatment program.Every year, at least twice,there are nationwide Pulse Polio immunization campaigns. If you ever happen to visit India during one such program, you will be amazed at the efficiency of the public-private-NGO partnership in the Pulse Polio immunisation program.

Again, I think the main danger with AIDS in India, is that we don’t seem to have a handle on the extent of the problem.And apart from truck drivers and sex workers, we don’t seem to know which are the other high risk categories (people who go to hair salons that reuse razor blades?People who get blood tests and injections done from labs and small clinics in mofussil areas? No exhaustive research and census; only case studies for charity orgs to put on their web sites.)

A stark fact: Most of the UN funds for research into AIDS, and almost all of American and European funds for AIDS research does not benefit the affected population in Africa, Asia and South America. Reason: Dominant HIV strains in the US and Europe are different from the strains prevalent in developing countries. Even here, the African strain is different from the one found in India.It is any body’s guess as to which strain the scientific research is focused on (for the most part that is).

Secondly, I am having some trouble with these statistics.While the UN says 5.7 million infections, the NACO (National AIDS Control Organization) reports around 111, 608 cases as on 31, July 2005. Their web site does not have data beyond that point ! Assuming average of 1,000 new cases per month, as per NACO, it should not be more than 124,000 cases by now.

What is the reason for this discrepancy? NACO counts only cases reported by its State-level counterparts who liaise with govt and private hospitals.Apparently, NACO also has the UN, USAID and other such organizations as its partners in the fight against AIDS. And when UN says 5.7 million infections, one has to assume they mean 2.7 million people who have been diagnosed as having AIDS. The discrepancy in figures is too high for it to be a common calculation error. If some one can throw more light on this (no assumptions please!), will be grateful.

The UN also says 2.7 million deaths due to AIDS.This is again a mind boggling figure.With out knowing the basis for arriving at this figure, I find it hard to believe that 27 lakhs have died in India due to this disease already, but the common man is more worried about chicken flu than AIDS.Surely, the common man in India is not that dumb to ignore 57 lakhs of infected people in all parts of the country?Are we saying that ‘awareness’ is the main problem in India?

Ok..now for some personal observations.

Picture this: Dozens of HIV infected children and destitutes outside some temples and dargas in Mumbai.No one bothers. Except may be some Seth-jis who come in their cars and distribute food packets every morning.I donno what these hapless patients need to do to attract the attention of aid agencies and NACO.

The case of truck drivers and sex workers on South Indian highways has been well documented.But the truck drivers continue to patronize the sex workers.The wives of some of the truck drivers have given birth to children who are HIV positive as well (not in all cases, but there are some). I travelled through those routes in Dec 2004.Apart from the occassional poster on using condoms for safe sex, I have not seen any visible evidence of the ‘awareness programs’ funded by aid agencies.I am sure they are doing a lot. But if 5.7 million infections is the right number, it (the disease control effort) seems to be a drop in the bucket.

Well, it has already been a long comment.I think I will have to blog the rest of my thoughts on this.

But before leaving, please let me know if any of you are aware of any NRI-driven efforts in combating AIDS in India.

-Kumar

There is no guaranteed treatment of polio in India – there is only a vaccination (which is very cheap). Moreover, polio is not a disease that’s spread due to lifestyle choices. It’s not spread from mother to child. Moreover, it’s not true that the Government eradicated polio. People want the best for their children – they don’t mind spending a hundred rupees for a vaccination. The private sector stepped in with the vaccine. There was no money to be made in hoarding or black-marketing the drug.

AIDS, on the other hand, has an expensive treatement. Can you imagine the cost when Government of India spends thousands (or lakhs) of rupees per AIDS patient? They’ll need a ministry ( a much coveted, juicy job) to handle this. Moreover, unlike polio, AIDS just keeps on coming. Free treatment means that whores, I mean sex workers, aaaahhh forget it, whores will not insist their clients to use condoms. What the hell! If she gets AIDS, she’s got a free treatment waiting for her. As for the clients, it’s champagne time!! As for the middlemen, politicans, adulterators (both kinds, the ones who cheat on their spouse and the ones who make bad drugs) will have a field day.

Sorry, not on my watch…

I am willing to concede only on one thing (and I am going against all my Libertarian principles on this one): If there is a child being born to a mother who has AIDS, I think the government could step in to save the innocent little thing. This is a limited, non-recurring problem which should not cost much. The mother must be forced to go snip-snip after child-birth. No more kids for you.

M. Nam

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/aids/

It is stunning and heart-breaking how denial and it’s (unjustified) association with homo-sexual pratices and drug-abuse has made AIDS an epidemic that it is today.