//
10th International AIDS Conference
Yokohama, Japan — Aug 7-12, 1994
Unaware rural collegiates are more helpful.
Int Conf AIDS 1994 Aug 7-12; 10:345 (abstract no. PD0560) Bharti R, Singh HP, Saini R, Singh GS;
OBJECTIVE: To develop a dialogue with college and Uni. Students of Amritsar (Punjab, India) and evaluate their awareness & helpfulness to spread the work of knowledge about AIDS.
METHODS: AIDS AWARENESS GROUP (A.A.G.), Amritsar, with the help of some other NGO'S, arranged lectures by experts in various colleges (rural & urban) and various deptts. Of the local Guru Nanak Dev University.
RESULTS: Whereas the students of the university and urban colleges were more aware, the rural area students did not know much about AIDS. The unaware rural collegiates were more desirous of becoming our message spreaders after acquiring the knowledge. DISCUSSION &
CONCLUSIONS: As majority of Amritsar's HIV patients today are ruralites, we, the AAG members, believe that more stress for education & utilisation of rural collegiates, is the need of the hour.
Keywords: AEGIS, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, Students, HIV Infections, Universities, Schools, India, Human, ICA10 940807 PD0560
Copyright © 1994 - International AIDS Society (IAS). Reproduction of this abstract (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the IAS.
//
10th International AIDS Conference
Yokohama, Japan — Aug 7-12, 1994
Unaware rural collegiates are more helpful.
Int Conf AIDS 1994 Aug 7-12; 10:345 (abstract no. PD0560) Bharti R, Singh HP, Saini R, Singh GS;
OBJECTIVE: To develop a dialogue with college and Uni. Students of Amritsar (Punjab, India) and evaluate their awareness & helpfulness to spread the work of knowledge about AIDS.
METHODS: AIDS AWARENESS GROUP (A.A.G.), Amritsar, with the help of some other NGO'S, arranged lectures by experts in various colleges (rural & urban) and various deptts. Of the local Guru Nanak Dev University.
RESULTS: Whereas the students of the university and urban colleges were more aware, the rural area students did not know much about AIDS. The unaware rural collegiates were more desirous of becoming our message spreaders after acquiring the knowledge. DISCUSSION &
CONCLUSIONS: As majority of Amritsar's HIV patients today are ruralites, we, the AAG members, believe that more stress for education & utilisation of rural collegiates, is the need of the hour.
Keywords: AEGIS, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, Students, HIV Infections, Universities, Schools, India, Human, ICA10 940807 PD0560
Copyright © 1994 - International AIDS Society (IAS). Reproduction of this abstract (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the IAS.
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
One year ago
The Tribune Carried this story one year ago
AIDS spreading its tentacles in Punjab villages Ashok Sethi
The AIDS Awareness Group (AAG) here has been grappling with alarming AIDS scenario, especially in rural areas. The Secretary and HIV expert of the AAG and Medical Officer, Department of Skin, Dr Ravi Saini, along with Dr Rakesh Bharti, has been organising various workshops and seminars to educate the most vulnerable section of the society, especially truckers.
According to experts, the dreaded disease was spreading viciously in the villages, as proper awareness had not been created at the grassroots level.
The first few cases of the full-blown AIDS in the rural areas adjoining the city were reported during the early 1990s. Quacks, who take people for a ride, add to the dismal scenario. Dr Saini said at present there were effective drugs available for helping the AIDS patients lead a normal life. These drugs were affordable, too. But stigma about AIDS kept a large number of people, especially poor and illiterate, away from hospitals.
A random survey carried out by the AAG has found that 40 per cent of the transport workers have unprotected sex. In most of the cases, prejudice and ignorance were found to be responsible for this. The AAG was funded by the British High Commission to prepare a report on the truckers.
Dr Saini said another serious concern was that drug addicts were contracting this disease through the use of unsterilised needles. Recently, a case of 70-year-old patient with full-blown AIDS was reported. It was found that the patient had contracted AIDS through the use of unsterilised needles. "Another factor which has caught the doctors unawares is the growing trend of extramarital affairs," added Dr Saini.
The medical fraternity, too, needed to brace itself up, according to Dr Saini. Still a large number of doctors in hospitals and nursing homes shunned the HIV patients. The doctors needed to have a positive approach, he added.
AIDS spreading its tentacles in Punjab villages Ashok Sethi
The AIDS Awareness Group (AAG) here has been grappling with alarming AIDS scenario, especially in rural areas. The Secretary and HIV expert of the AAG and Medical Officer, Department of Skin, Dr Ravi Saini, along with Dr Rakesh Bharti, has been organising various workshops and seminars to educate the most vulnerable section of the society, especially truckers.
According to experts, the dreaded disease was spreading viciously in the villages, as proper awareness had not been created at the grassroots level.
The first few cases of the full-blown AIDS in the rural areas adjoining the city were reported during the early 1990s. Quacks, who take people for a ride, add to the dismal scenario. Dr Saini said at present there were effective drugs available for helping the AIDS patients lead a normal life. These drugs were affordable, too. But stigma about AIDS kept a large number of people, especially poor and illiterate, away from hospitals.
A random survey carried out by the AAG has found that 40 per cent of the transport workers have unprotected sex. In most of the cases, prejudice and ignorance were found to be responsible for this. The AAG was funded by the British High Commission to prepare a report on the truckers.
Dr Saini said another serious concern was that drug addicts were contracting this disease through the use of unsterilised needles. Recently, a case of 70-year-old patient with full-blown AIDS was reported. It was found that the patient had contracted AIDS through the use of unsterilised needles. "Another factor which has caught the doctors unawares is the growing trend of extramarital affairs," added Dr Saini.
The medical fraternity, too, needed to brace itself up, according to Dr Saini. Still a large number of doctors in hospitals and nursing homes shunned the HIV patients. The doctors needed to have a positive approach, he added.
Monday, July 24, 2006
it was pk who wrote that betrayal story
the betrayal story continues
First of all let me rectify the mistake of not identifying the narrator of that story-it was pk ,her blog on healthand humanrights in Punjab had it and i only copied and posted.Sorry pk
More importanatly now the lady has turned to be HIV negative and the couple wants a child.USFD does not approve of semen wash etc. Europe has seen lots of such successes.Any guidance,research in ASIA and India are welcomed to be shared and help this young lady who wants to compensate her loss of faith with gain of motherhood
Bharti
First of all let me rectify the mistake of not identifying the narrator of that story-it was pk ,her blog on healthand humanrights in Punjab had it and i only copied and posted.Sorry pk
More importanatly now the lady has turned to be HIV negative and the couple wants a child.USFD does not approve of semen wash etc. Europe has seen lots of such successes.Any guidance,research in ASIA and India are welcomed to be shared and help this young lady who wants to compensate her loss of faith with gain of motherhood
Bharti
Friday, July 21, 2006
Will the betrayals become common?
A young woman's betrayal
This morning I met a young woman who had just found out about her husband's HIV positive status four days earlier. She had found out accidently. Her husband had gone for a lab test and one afternoon she decided to go pick the results on her own, as a favor to her husband. There they handed over his CD4 lab results and she learned that her husband is HIV positive.The couple has only been married for a year. She is only 22 years old and appears delicate and innocent, a typical young South Asian bride. Her husband belongs to one of the richest families in the city and had known about his HIV status well before his marriage. He has been on medicines for well over a year. When he announced to the physician that he was going to get married, he assured his doctor that he had informed his future wife of his HIV status. A few days ago the truth came out that this wasn't accurate information.She had come to the clinic yesterday, with her husband. He sat quietly on a bench across from the physician's desk, while she sat close to the doctor. They had both come to the clinic because they want to have a child. Emotions were high during the session Dr. Bharti held with the young woman. She was stiff with anger and two or three times repeated "Shouldn't he have told me before?" The physician acknowledged her sense of pain and anger. The husband sat quietly and listened as the physician tried to cover the wide range of information that was neccessary to cover. He tried to emphasize to her that she first needs time to come to terms with learning about her husband's HIV status and his (and his family's) dishonesty in not sharing this information with her before marrying her and denying her the information for the past year of her marriage.Today she arrived back in the clinic with her husband in tow, and resolutely replied that on the question of whether to have a child, "I've left it up to him to decide." In her next sentence, she said "There are no alternatives." In her conscious, she has decided that she wants to have a child with her husband, despite the risks that she may become infected and her child may also then become HIV positive.This young woman has many challenging decisions to make in the next few months. I was struck by the lack of response or responsibility that her husband displayed. The burden of the decisions and emotions have been squarely placed on her shoulders, while placing her in a precarious position if she decides to "stray" from her "wifely duties" to provide her husband and his family with a child. She is very young and from my observation, needs intense professional counselling in order to come to an independent decision that she will be confident she made without the influence of her husband or his family or a sense of guilt.This pressure of the social custom to have a child in many traditional societies is one reason that microbicides are a pressing need to the women of the world. This young woman is one story out of the millions of women around the world facing infection by the virus because the men they trust are not taking the confidence these women have in them seriously.
This morning I met a young woman who had just found out about her husband's HIV positive status four days earlier. She had found out accidently. Her husband had gone for a lab test and one afternoon she decided to go pick the results on her own, as a favor to her husband. There they handed over his CD4 lab results and she learned that her husband is HIV positive.The couple has only been married for a year. She is only 22 years old and appears delicate and innocent, a typical young South Asian bride. Her husband belongs to one of the richest families in the city and had known about his HIV status well before his marriage. He has been on medicines for well over a year. When he announced to the physician that he was going to get married, he assured his doctor that he had informed his future wife of his HIV status. A few days ago the truth came out that this wasn't accurate information.She had come to the clinic yesterday, with her husband. He sat quietly on a bench across from the physician's desk, while she sat close to the doctor. They had both come to the clinic because they want to have a child. Emotions were high during the session Dr. Bharti held with the young woman. She was stiff with anger and two or three times repeated "Shouldn't he have told me before?" The physician acknowledged her sense of pain and anger. The husband sat quietly and listened as the physician tried to cover the wide range of information that was neccessary to cover. He tried to emphasize to her that she first needs time to come to terms with learning about her husband's HIV status and his (and his family's) dishonesty in not sharing this information with her before marrying her and denying her the information for the past year of her marriage.Today she arrived back in the clinic with her husband in tow, and resolutely replied that on the question of whether to have a child, "I've left it up to him to decide." In her next sentence, she said "There are no alternatives." In her conscious, she has decided that she wants to have a child with her husband, despite the risks that she may become infected and her child may also then become HIV positive.This young woman has many challenging decisions to make in the next few months. I was struck by the lack of response or responsibility that her husband displayed. The burden of the decisions and emotions have been squarely placed on her shoulders, while placing her in a precarious position if she decides to "stray" from her "wifely duties" to provide her husband and his family with a child. She is very young and from my observation, needs intense professional counselling in order to come to an independent decision that she will be confident she made without the influence of her husband or his family or a sense of guilt.This pressure of the social custom to have a child in many traditional societies is one reason that microbicides are a pressing need to the women of the world. This young woman is one story out of the millions of women around the world facing infection by the virus because the men they trust are not taking the confidence these women have in them seriously.
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
Saturday, July 15, 2006
GOOD NEWS
It is almost here.
Yes . I understand very soon Amritsar will have an ART center.This was revealed to me by a dermatologist friend of mine from GMC,Amritsar.As per him it may start this week itself.
AIIMS,New Delhi ,however,announced it much earlier depending on paper information as narrated to meone of my patients.Authorities of AIIMS told this patient that why has she come so far as Amritsar also have a center where tests are done and ARV's are available.
I would love to ask my all patients to avail the facility thru phones and this Blog
Yes . I understand very soon Amritsar will have an ART center.This was revealed to me by a dermatologist friend of mine from GMC,Amritsar.As per him it may start this week itself.
AIIMS,New Delhi ,however,announced it much earlier depending on paper information as narrated to meone of my patients.Authorities of AIIMS told this patient that why has she come so far as Amritsar also have a center where tests are done and ARV's are available.
I would love to ask my all patients to avail the facility thru phones and this Blog
Friday, July 14, 2006
AAG, AmritsarAIDS Awareness Group, Amritsar
Testing Before Marriage
An interesting debate has started after Goa deciding to go for this testing and Many Punjab villages demanding the same.The general public in villages affected by the deadly virus looks for it but technically the proposition sounds unfair.
I invite comments
Dr.Rakesh Bharti
An interesting debate has started after Goa deciding to go for this testing and Many Punjab villages demanding the same.The general public in villages affected by the deadly virus looks for it but technically the proposition sounds unfair.
I invite comments
Dr.Rakesh Bharti
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Male Sexual health and HIV in conservative Societies
Risks and Responsibilities on male Sexual health and HIV
I would love to hear on this topic with special reference to conservative societies like India,bangladesh,pakistan,nepal,Sri Lanka etc
I would love to hear on this topic with special reference to conservative societies like India,bangladesh,pakistan,nepal,Sri Lanka etc
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)