Orientation of Journalists on HIV/AIDS - Bangladesh

TGP can help to prevent HIV/AIDS

- Mohammad Khairul Alam -
- HIV/AIDS programme Consultant -

Now a day AIDS is increasing all over the world in an enormous position. No country could face it successfully. It turns very unique position in some countries of Africa like Uganda, Gayer, Cambodia, and Sub Sahara region etc. East Asian some countries are also affected by this. In South Asian country like India is the second largest country in the world for HIV/ AIDS. There are 5.1 million people carry or suffer of this. It will be the main reason of our country for vulnerable of HIV/ AIDS. Because we have to depend in various reason of that country. Mainly our internal Business fully depends on it. Such there many way we bound to go India. Burma is another neighbor country is already a large number affected in here. AIDS surveillance specialist Mr. Parvage Shajjad Mollik said, “There are so many cultural values and socio economical systems are responsible for this increasing like this dieses, poverty and illiteracy is also responsible for this increasing. This indicator is not fully responsible but it helps to change behavior on so that. So if we want to prevent of this at first we have to emphasize to try to change sexual behavior. We did success to find out our vulnerable target groups and why they become vulnerable�.

HIV/ AIDS is a sexual disease, but it is deferent from other sexual transmission disease (STDs, STI). Other STDs have proper medicine and these diseases don’t create cause of die, but AIDS is very dangerous, there are no any alternative way to survive after it infection, it can end of life. We find out first vulnerable group in Bangladesh is injection drug user (IDUs) and second is professional sex worker. There are many reason every year are increasing IDUs all over in Bangladesh. It easy to get in every location in Bangladesh and chipper than other is the main reason for this; other reasons are political and socio-economical frustrations. Last year 4th surveillance report was about 4% IDUs are infected with HIV/AIDS all over in Bangladesh, but after one year we see the one area of Dhaka City this raise to 8.9%, this report we get from 5th surveillance survey. This ratio will be clouded in our social norm and can help to hamper our economical condition. Our country is very poor so we are not able to face a large number of patients like this disease.

So we have to take necessary steps to prevent it’s increasing. We need several level of advocacy champing to build up awareness of HIV/AIDS. We need to encourage gender/ reproductive health education, which not only prevent HIV/AIDS but also help to prevent others STDs/STI (Sexual Transmission Disease). We can influence our government education authority to include about HIV/AIDS details our primary and secondary level’s curriculum.

Gender education is essential in our country’s adolescent boys & girls. This education can play a vital role of empowerment our illiterate society. It can help to develop our adolescent into a proper knowledge. Religious superstition & fundamentalism prevents to get such kind of education from their childhood. But this knowledge is very important for mental & physical development, it can help their social interaction, social behavior, reproductive health & sanitation, sexual behavior, to able to adopt all kinds of social change, to awareness them of their rights etc. Individually lack of knowledge these one can create other problems.

We also increase peer educator for professional sex worker, peer educator means a group of person or individual who are take from target group or brothel to give them proper training. After training they can able to awareness others.

We need to take TGP (Target Group Promoter) strategy for residence or other sex worker. It is very affected for residence sex workers or hidden sex workers. TGP is a newly invention idea (Proved by Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallyan Foundation) which help to prevent HIV/AIDS. TGP is a one kind of source/ broker/ sealer (Called in Bengali is Dalal), who collects clients/ customers for residence sex workers; they encourage people to buy sex. Without TGP (Their nominated source) the residence sex worker doesn’t allow any new client. TGP will play a vital roll in our action. Residence Sex Workers (RSW) lives together three to ten in a house. They continue their business under a Guidance or Governance or a Teem Leader (is called Sharderni in Bengali). These teem leaders communicate with some local people, who help them by delivering customer or client, these people is called source (in Bengali called Dalal). They depend on each other. Some times those sources shelter them from local unexpected situation or from police harassment. If we could continue this action then TGP will play very important role. Because residence sex workers don’t stay long time in a house, they change their house after three to six months, but they always keep contact with their source (TGP) for continuing their business. For this reasons TGP is very important programme.

In some areas a group of drug user uses one syringe when they take drug. It is very dangerous for increasing HIV/AIDS. So we should try to alert them, and give advice them two or more drug user don’t use drug by a one syringe.

Mohammad Khairul Alam
HIV/AIDS programme Consultant

Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallyan Foundation

24/3. M. C. Roy Lane
Nowbabgonj- Section
Dhaka-1211
Bangladesh
www.plusbangla.com
Rainbowngo@gmail.com

Commercial Sex Workers are vulnerable of HIV/AIDS & STDs/STI in Bangladesh

Ms. Muslima Khan Bulon
HIV/AIDS Researcher

In our country people is not very much conscious of their health care due to reason of illiteracy. They don’t get enough information of heath & sanitation from their society. Our general education system doesn’t contain such information or recent condition. So in generally they have to backward proper knowledge from childhood. Information upgrading system of our education sector is not up-to-date. It is the general reason why our country people can be vulnerable of HIV/ AIDS. Others specific reason are drug addiction peoples, professional sex workers etc.

Poor adolescent girls are vulnerable to coerced sex, including rape and other sexual abuse - within and outside the family - and forced sex work. Any non-consensual or coerced penetrative sex can carry an increased risk of HIV transmission, particularly as men are not likely to use condoms in these situations.

Subordination in education, employment, social and legal status makes women more vulnerable to HIV. Women who have limited access to financial resources are more likely to become economically dependent on men, relegated to the subsistence sector or forced into commercial sex work.

In our country injection-able drug user are increasing day by day. It is the head act of government policy maker, but they can’t decline it. Some drug expert’s opinion, ‘The cause of drug increasing are due to political & social frustration, drug user can get it easily and chipper’. Of those injection-able drug users are the first vulnerable group of HIV/AIDS in our country. In some areas a group of drug user uses one syringe when they take drug. It is very dangerous for increasing HIV/AIDS.

Another vulnerable group of HIV/AIDS is professional sex worker. In generally sex worker of our country come from poor & illiterate family. So they have lack of knowledge of STD/STI, HIV/AIDS etc, for this reason they often sale sex without safe guard or condom. Although most of sex worker use various contraceptive method for avoid poignancy. But only one contraceptive method like condom can prevent both poignancy and STD/STI or HIV/AIDS. It is infect that condom user in Bangladesh is very low. We get this statistic result from 4th surveillance survey recently.

Drug user and sex worker both all of our society member. They are also family member of some family. So if they affect by transmission disease our society will be affect by this. So we should need to make aware of these groups very soon.

Source: Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallyan Foundation

‘Stop AIDS, Keep the Promise’ is it possible in Bangladesh?

Md. Ismail Hossain
Assistant Director
Bangladesh Bank

Fortunately fact that overall HIV prevalence rate in Bangladesh is low, but we don’t declare, full of coolness that we are free from this epidemic. Because the risky behavior of infection of the disease is such high, the HIV/AIDS may spread at an alarming rate in the country at any time. On the other hand, since the first case was detected in 1989, till December 2005, only 7,500 cases were officially reported. Of these, 465 have developed AIDS, and 64 have died (National AIDS/STD Program –NASP).

The health care system is low in Bangladesh. Thousands of people die in every year by several common diseases. Although some health or prevention knowledge would lessen this fatal mortality. Capital city’s health care system in upgraded in some extent but district level health care system is nominal. Several NGO’s are working on HIV/AIDS prevention sector. But we found that there is a massive need of facilities and manpower to deliver comprehensive HIV care and laboratory facilities to support and monitor the therapy. There is a similar lack of medical personnel with enough knowledge of antiretroviral therapy. Possibilities for drug distribution to remote corners are limited and storage facilities are often insufficient.

AIDS surveillance specialist Mr. Parvez Sazzad Mallick said, “There are so many cultural values and socio economical systems are responsible for this increasing like this dieses, poverty and illiteracy is also responsible for this increasing. This indicator is not fully responsible but it helps to change behavior on so that. So if we want to prevent of this at first we have to emphasize to try to change sexual behavior. We did success to find out our vulnerable target groups and why they become vulnerable�. (Senior Technical Officer- Family Health International -FHI)

The HIV/AIDS programme specialist Mr. Mohammad Khairul Alam said, “several social norms and immature behavior fueled of this disease to scatter rapidly. There are several social components link to develop this harmful situation. Poverty-behind to force it, Gender discrimination plays a vital role; Frustration & risk behavior help to sink humanity resulting infection. The link between poverty & gender discrimination are help to decline socio economic prosperity. This link creates several anti social poisonous issues also. Such as trafficking to prostitute, sell sex for earn or living, break down family norm to create frustration and driven drug point. We notice easily that Illiteracy is the main watchword of all circumstance. So it is not easy to remove it from the society, several programs & strategies are needed to gain sustainable position�.

HIV/AIDS researcher Dr. Salim Ahmed said ‘91 per cent of the adolescents of the country have no knowledge of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). According to the NASP report, 50 per cent of the adolescents of the country are living under the ominous shadow of HIV infection’. (Program Manager, National AIDS/STD Program- NASP)

The ‘Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallyan Foundation’ identified four major approaches in a groundbreaking study on spread out HIV in Bangladesh. This study undertook by comparing of social-economic norm, family pattern, economic dependency, cause of mounting sex industries, gender discrimination status & global analysis fact. There are four factors that appear to play a crucial role in HIV transmission in Bangladesh: Injection/ intravenous drug use (By sharing needle), female sex work (Due to lack of safe sex knowledge), gender discrimination (which indirectly force females commercial or non-commercial sex), Same sex/ homosexually/ Hizra (Due to lack of HIV/AIDS information, because they act invisible in this society). Poverty & illiteracy fueled it proportionally.

Mr. Md. Alauddin, (Ex- Procurement Consultant, IDA/DFID funded HIV/AIDS Prevention Project) said, “HIV/AIDS is not just a health issue in our society. It is also a social, economical, developmental, ethical and psychological issue. Some of our policy makers including civil servants, few members of civil societies are confident regarding spread of HIV virus as because they think our nation is a Muslim moderate nation and its society is Muslim majority religious society where moral character is better than that of other non-Muslim nation. This type way of thinking also allows our societies to avoid responsibility of dealing against the widespread of HIV virus. This attitude can be dangerous for the future of Bangladesh. HIV virus knows no social, religion, racial, boarder or cultural barriers. But if we follow some preventive measures or change some sexual behavioral pattern in our life, if we avoid sharing needles, if we can ensure safe blood, this virus is still not harmful.�

Women will carry on HIV/AIDS epidemic. Women in Bangladesh, largely getting sexual experience within marriage and for the most part, premarital sexual contact is mostly confined to their future husband or Lovers. Nowadays-sexual behavior among Bangladeshi women is changing. Adolescent girls may not stay in the traditional sex of previous generation and casual sexual behaviors are mounting. This may take Bangladesh in an alarming position.

Social Cultural and economic forces make women more likely to contract HIV infection than men.

- Mohammad Khairul Alam -
- rainbowngo@gmail.com -
- HIV/AIDS researcher -
- Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallyan Foundation -

The view of poor & developing countries, In generally we found that women & adolescent girls are more vulnerable to HIV infection on each sexual encounter because of the biological nature of the process and the vulnerability of the reproductive tract tissues to the virus, especially in adolescent girls. For example, young women are generally disadvantaged by gender disparities. In terms of food intake, access to health care and growth patterns, girls are often worse off than boys. The inequalities become evident soon after birth, and by adolescence many girls are grossly underweight. Social Cultural and economic forces make women more likely to contract HIV infection than men. Women are often less able to negotiate for safer sex due to reasons such as their lower status, economic dependence and fear of violence, adolescent girls in the countries.

Adolescents in poor families often do not have the option to make real choices about their sexual and reproductive lives, such as when and whom to marry, whether and when to have children and how many to have, and whether to use contraceptives. Women tend to marry very young: nearly two thirds of adolescents in most South Asian countries marry before 18 years of age, and many even before 15 years, despite laws exclusion such early marriage.

In many poor regions, Women’s limited economic opportunity, and relative powerlessness, may force them into sex work in order to survive with household financial disaster. This exposes them to HIV infection and they in turn will transmit HIV to their clients. In those areas girls are particularly vulnerable to HIV infection, because of intergenerational sexual relationships, violence, and limited access to information. In addition, discrimination and stigma obstruct adolescent girls’ access to health services. Poverty causes increased migration to look for work.

Gender analysis, in relation to HIV/AIDS, has tended to focus on women of reproductive age, and infrequently on young girls, because Young women and girls are increasingly being targeted for sex by older men seeking safe partners and also by those who erroneously believe that a man infected with HIV/AIDS will get rid of the disease by having sex with a virgin. So HIV/AIDS epidemic has been fuelled by gender inequality or discrimination. Unequal power relations, sexual coercion and violence is a widespread phenomenon faced by women of all age-groups, and has an array of negative effects on female sexual, physical and mental health.

In many developing countries, poverty, and gender discrimination between women and men, are both strongly linked to the spread of HIV/AIDS. Gender and age analysis shows the ways in which women and girls of different ages are vulnerable to the infection, and in require of support to allow the survivors to overcome the financial and social effects of the epidemic. In responding to HIV/AIDS and poverty alleviation approaching are interconnected. Therefore health and development workers should work on holistic policies and programmes to reduce poverty and address HIV/AIDS, and Emphasize the need for special efforts to be made to protect women and girls exposed to the risk of HIV/AIDS. Ensure that the legal, civil and human rights of those affected and infected are protected and that women have access to treatment, counselling and support on an equal footing with men.

Source: Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallyan Foundation

Make no mistake; China's AIDS epidemic is growing.

Ms. Muslema Khan Bulon
AIDS researcher
bulon@email.com

AIDS cases were first identified in 1981,in the United States. Researchers have traced cases back to 1959. There are millions of diagnosed cases worldwide, but there is no cure. There are about thirty million people in the world who are currently infected with HIV. China is the world largest population country in the world. Potentiality, manpower & security were able to attract world famous investor. Many foreign investor, invest in here. So China plays an important role in the world markets.

By the way, AIDS epidemic is knocking the door. UNAIDS, WHO and Government, the study estimated that 650,000 people have HIV/AIDS in China, down from the government's 2003 estimate of 840,000 cases. The revision is due mainly to the earlier study's overestimation of the number of people infected through blood-buying schemes, said Deputy Health Minister Wang Longde.

The HIV/AIDS programme specialist Mr. Mohammad Khairul Alam said, “several social norms and immature behavior fueled of this disease to scatter rapidly. There are several social components link to develop this harmful situation. Poverty-behind to force it, Gender discrimination plays a vital role; Frustration & risk behavior help to sink humanity resulting infection. The link between poverty & gender discrimination are help to decline socio economic prosperity. This link creates several anti social poisonous issues also. Such as trafficking to prostitute, sell sex for earn or living, break down family norm to create frustration and driven drug point. We notice easily that Illiteracy is the main watchword of all circumstance. So it is not easy to remove it from the society, several programs & strategy are needed to gain sustainable position�.

UN officials said the new figure is more accurate than past estimates in part because more surveillance sites have been set up during the last two years. The figure is within an estimated range of 540,000-760,000 HIV/AIDS cases, UN officials said.

Of the 25,000 people who died of AIDS in China last year, 10,000 acquired their infections through blood-buying schemes, said the Health Ministry. The high mortality comes despite estimates that those infected through blood-buying, mostly poor farmers, comprise a small proportion of total AIDS cases in China.

"Make no mistake, China's AIDS epidemic is growing," said Hank Bekedam, WHO's chief China representative. "With an estimated 70,000 new infections in 2005, the epidemic here shows no signs of abating." "The new numbers should not mask the fact that HIV infections are on the rise. we fear the number of new infections this year will be even higher and this trend could continue in the future," Bekedam said.

The Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallyan Foundation identified four major approaches in a groundbreaking study on spread out HIV in Asia. This study undertook by comparing of social-economic norm, family pattern, economic dependency, cause of mounting sex industries, gender discrimination status & global analysis fact. There are four factors that appear to play a crucial role in HIV transmission in Asian Countries: Injection/ intravenous drug use (By sharing needle), female sex work (Due to lack of safe sex knowledge), gender discrimination (which indirectly force females commercial or non-commercial sex), Same sex/ homosexually/ Hizra (Due to lack of HIV/AIDS information, because they act invisible in this society). Poverty & illiteracy fueled it proportionally.

About half the 70,000 new infections were sexually transmitted, while most others were acquired through intravenous drug use, the study said. The number of sexually transmitted cases exceeded the number of cases through IDU, worrying officials that the epidemic has moved into the general populace, and it has killed many people. So people need to be more aware and protect themselves so they don't become another statistic, because HIV and AIDS are serious, deadly, and they will be with us for a long time. There will not be a cure found anytime soon, but hopefully there will be a cure found. We have to think AIDS couldn’t backward the present development in China.

References: Agence France Presse, Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallyan Foundation.