Shillong, Nov 28:The official observance of World AIDS Day on December 1 is all show, no substance as the authorities in the state show little real desire or ability to meaningfully address the difficulties faced by people living with HIV (PLHIV).
This was stated in a no-holds-barred release by the Meghalaya State Network of Positive People (MSNPP).
While the global theme for this year’s World AIDS Day is ‘Overcoming Disruption, Transforming the AIDS Response’ where PLHIV are to lead discussions affecting their lives, in Meghalaya, MSNPP said, people whose lives are affected by HIV/AIDS are largely silenced, invited to attend functions like these but not to contribute to the shaping of public policy even when it affects their lives.
MSNPP has been invited to the World AIDS Day observance but have not been invited to speak as their presence is only meant for “decoration”.
Meanwhile, the Meghalaya Users’ Forum and MeduNet, which have worked for over a decade to support people who use drugs and PLHIV, have been excluded entirely.
“Stakeholders love to condemn discrimination in big speeches and on social media — yet what about the systemic discrimination happening right now from the very departments responsible for the HIV response?” MSNPP said. “People in decision-making positions should hear directly from us, not through intermediaries who filter out the truth. The middlemen are not empathetic enough — they don’t live our lives, they don’t feel our reality, and clearly, they don’t tell our story honestly.”
According to the release, the status of HIV/AIDS in Meghalaya is at a crucial juncture. The number of children living with HIV is increasing but there has been “almost no” positive response to MSNPP’s pleas for support. Basic diagnostic tests, once free, are now disrupted. Lost-to-Follow-Up cases continue to rise and new HIV and Hepatitis C infections persist. In East Jaintia Hills, staff are forced to counsel clients in rooms “the size of store cupboards”, where confidentiality is impossible. Even antiretroviral treatment (ART) at Ialong Civil Hospital in Jowai “operates in overcrowded, undignified conditions that insult both patients and healthcare workers.”
World AIDS Day is also a time when the authorities make use of various ways to raise awareness, typically to “break the silence” or “end the stigma”, or somesuch. MSNPP, however, decried this year’s prime use of “celebrity” doctors, fashion models and influencers “instead of acknowledging the real warriors on the ground who keep people alive.”
“Because clearly, hashtags and catwalks have cured more people than viral load testing and ART adherence, right? Maybe next year, the virus will be intimidated by glamour and leave Meghalaya on its own,” it added sarcastically.
Meanwhile, officialdom presented a number of HIV/AIDS-related statistics at a press conference today in the run-up to World AIDS Day.
The Project Director of the Meghalaya AIDS Control Society, Dr KL Iawbor, informed that there are around 10,000 PLHIV in the state. Of these, around 500 are children, with East Jaintia Hills the district with the most children living with HIV.
Dr Iawbor also informed that among adults, there are 5,308 females, 5,033 males and four trans-genders PLHIV.
She also said that 145 to 155 of those having HIV are intravenous drug users, 300 female sex workers and 11 are MSM (men having sex with men). She also stated that 16 percent of the HIV patients who are registered with MACS are “lost to follow-up”.
According to Dr Iawbor, most HIV cases in the state are due to heterosexual contacts. “The cases of HIV are increasing and the prevalence rate is.43 percent,” she added.
The MACS Project Director also stated that the prevalence of HIV among females shows that it has entered the “general population” and is no longer confined among the “high risk group”.
She also informed that the East Khasi Hills, East Jaintia Hills and West Jaintia Hills have a high number of PLHIV.
