Yamanoor Srihari
2004-04-05 03:57:16 UTC
Srihari <yamanoor-FGKo4X94FMn2fBVCVOL8/***@public.gmane.org> wrote:Subject: SFGate: With AIDS spreading relentlessly, India launches free drug program/7 clinics open, but supplies of antiviral drugs are woefully inadequate
To: "Professor Brandeau"
,
From: "Srihari"
Date: Sun, 4 Apr 2004 20:25 -0700
News Regarding AIDS program in India
----------------------------------------------------------------------
This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SFGate.
The original article can be found on SFGate.com here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/04/02/MNGTO5VM9H1.DTL
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, April 2, 2004 (SF Chronicle)
With AIDS spreading relentlessly, India launches free drug program/7 clinics open, but supplies of antiviral drugs are woefully inadequate
Sabin Russell, Chronicle Medical Writer
New Delhi -- Down a dark corridor on the ground floor of this city's Lok
Nyak public hospital, Room 32 beckons with a glow of bright lights, fresh
paint and the promise of free antiviral drugs for a handful of India's
poorest AIDS patients.
Here and at six similar sites in this nation of 1 billion citizens, the
Indian government Thursday took its first, tentative steps toward
distributing AIDS drugs to 100,000 people.
At the new Lok Nyak AIDS clinic, there are enough drugs for only 200
patients, and doctors launched the program today with medicines for only
six. Made of combinations of generic copies of the costly antiviral drugs
that prolong the lives of AIDS patients in the United States, the
medication will cost the Indian government about $1 a day for each
recipient.
Bharat Vhushank, an emaciated 45-year-old photographer who is struggling
with both heroin addiction and AIDS, was among the fortunate six . "It is
a good feeling," he said, of the moment when he first swallowed the pills
that may save his life.
During the past six months, Vhushank has battled pneumocystis pneumonia,
oral yeast infections, bouts of fever and the loss of nearly 40 pounds
from his already painfully thin frame.
It is the same list of opportunistic infections and maladies that have
killed more than 20 million people with AIDS around the globe in the past
two decades. The AIDS-related afflictions once were commonplace in San
Francisco's gay community, and killed nearly 18,000, before combination
drugs dramatically slowed the pace of dying.
Coincidentally, South Africa also launched its own free drug program
Thursday. With more people infected with HIV than any other country, South
Africa promises to have the world's largest program. Both India and South
Africa are part of a global effort to achieve the World Health
Organization's "3-by-5" goal -- treating 3 million AIDS patients in the
developing world by 2005.
In ceremonies marking the launch of India's free AIDS drug program,
hospital and state government officials called it a day of hope, but they
were also candid about their fears.
"An unmitigated disaster is looming on the horizon," said S.P. Agarwal,
the chief health official for the small northern Indian state of Delhi,
home to 14 million, including about 1.5 million in the nation's capital.
Less than 1 percent of India's vast population is infected with HIV, the
virus that causes AIDS. But with 1 billion people in the country, it's
still 4. 6 million individuals. Already, India is second only to South
Africa among the list of nations with the most HIV infections.
Many experts believe that the official estimates are off by half and that
there are already 10 million HIV infections in India. Left unchecked, it
is widely predicted that India could have as many as 25 million cases of
HIV by 2010, just six years from now.
Within India, the epidemic is concentrated in pockets, where infection
rates are rising ominously. Close to 80 percent of India's infections are
believed to be transmitted heterosexually. It is a formula suggesting the
start of a generalized epidemic in the world's second most populous
nation.
Delhi itself is not considered among India's six "high prevalence" states,
all of which are to the south. But it is the only state in northern India
participating in the start of the national AIDS treatment program, and
that has officials there worried.
There are an estimated 29,000 HIV infections in Delhi and 862 cases of
advanced AIDS. With medicines this year for a mere 200, health officials
worry that, as word spreads about the free drug program, struggling Lok
Nayak hospital will become a magnet for AIDS patients throughout northern
India.
"People from neighboring states will be flocking to us, and that will be a
problem," warned Arun Baroka, project director for the Delhi State AIDS
Control Society, which handles the federal money and runs the local
program.
During the first phase of the Indian government program, the drugs will be
distributed with priority first to mothers who are HIV positive and who
participated in a program that gave a short course of drugs to them during
childbirth. Although the program can cut in half the number of infants who
contract HIV from their mothers, without lifelong treatment, those mothers
will eventually die of AIDS.
The second priority will be to give the drugs to HIV-positive children who
are below the age of 15, and the third priority will go to what the
government calls "full-blown AIDS cases," like those of Bharat Vhushan.
Initially, many of those who get the free treatment may be among the
estimated 15,000 Indians who currently get antiviral drugs through private
charities. At the Lok Nyak clinic, Raijni, a nervous 32-year-old widow
whose husband died of AIDS, was one of the first six patients to enroll in
the program. She has been taking drugs for a year, funded by a private
group. "The medicine worked," she said. Now, she has the prospect of
keeping her health without depending on the private donor.
Sabin Russell is traveling in India on a grant from the Kaiser Family
Foundation. E-mail him at srussell-***@public.gmane.org ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2004 SF Chronicle
La vie..
http://www.stanford.edu/~yamanoor
http://yamanoor.tblog.com
---------------------------------
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To: "Professor Brandeau"
,
From: "Srihari"
Date: Sun, 4 Apr 2004 20:25 -0700
News Regarding AIDS program in India
----------------------------------------------------------------------
This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SFGate.
The original article can be found on SFGate.com here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/04/02/MNGTO5VM9H1.DTL
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, April 2, 2004 (SF Chronicle)
With AIDS spreading relentlessly, India launches free drug program/7 clinics open, but supplies of antiviral drugs are woefully inadequate
Sabin Russell, Chronicle Medical Writer
New Delhi -- Down a dark corridor on the ground floor of this city's Lok
Nyak public hospital, Room 32 beckons with a glow of bright lights, fresh
paint and the promise of free antiviral drugs for a handful of India's
poorest AIDS patients.
Here and at six similar sites in this nation of 1 billion citizens, the
Indian government Thursday took its first, tentative steps toward
distributing AIDS drugs to 100,000 people.
At the new Lok Nyak AIDS clinic, there are enough drugs for only 200
patients, and doctors launched the program today with medicines for only
six. Made of combinations of generic copies of the costly antiviral drugs
that prolong the lives of AIDS patients in the United States, the
medication will cost the Indian government about $1 a day for each
recipient.
Bharat Vhushank, an emaciated 45-year-old photographer who is struggling
with both heroin addiction and AIDS, was among the fortunate six . "It is
a good feeling," he said, of the moment when he first swallowed the pills
that may save his life.
During the past six months, Vhushank has battled pneumocystis pneumonia,
oral yeast infections, bouts of fever and the loss of nearly 40 pounds
from his already painfully thin frame.
It is the same list of opportunistic infections and maladies that have
killed more than 20 million people with AIDS around the globe in the past
two decades. The AIDS-related afflictions once were commonplace in San
Francisco's gay community, and killed nearly 18,000, before combination
drugs dramatically slowed the pace of dying.
Coincidentally, South Africa also launched its own free drug program
Thursday. With more people infected with HIV than any other country, South
Africa promises to have the world's largest program. Both India and South
Africa are part of a global effort to achieve the World Health
Organization's "3-by-5" goal -- treating 3 million AIDS patients in the
developing world by 2005.
In ceremonies marking the launch of India's free AIDS drug program,
hospital and state government officials called it a day of hope, but they
were also candid about their fears.
"An unmitigated disaster is looming on the horizon," said S.P. Agarwal,
the chief health official for the small northern Indian state of Delhi,
home to 14 million, including about 1.5 million in the nation's capital.
Less than 1 percent of India's vast population is infected with HIV, the
virus that causes AIDS. But with 1 billion people in the country, it's
still 4. 6 million individuals. Already, India is second only to South
Africa among the list of nations with the most HIV infections.
Many experts believe that the official estimates are off by half and that
there are already 10 million HIV infections in India. Left unchecked, it
is widely predicted that India could have as many as 25 million cases of
HIV by 2010, just six years from now.
Within India, the epidemic is concentrated in pockets, where infection
rates are rising ominously. Close to 80 percent of India's infections are
believed to be transmitted heterosexually. It is a formula suggesting the
start of a generalized epidemic in the world's second most populous
nation.
Delhi itself is not considered among India's six "high prevalence" states,
all of which are to the south. But it is the only state in northern India
participating in the start of the national AIDS treatment program, and
that has officials there worried.
There are an estimated 29,000 HIV infections in Delhi and 862 cases of
advanced AIDS. With medicines this year for a mere 200, health officials
worry that, as word spreads about the free drug program, struggling Lok
Nayak hospital will become a magnet for AIDS patients throughout northern
India.
"People from neighboring states will be flocking to us, and that will be a
problem," warned Arun Baroka, project director for the Delhi State AIDS
Control Society, which handles the federal money and runs the local
program.
During the first phase of the Indian government program, the drugs will be
distributed with priority first to mothers who are HIV positive and who
participated in a program that gave a short course of drugs to them during
childbirth. Although the program can cut in half the number of infants who
contract HIV from their mothers, without lifelong treatment, those mothers
will eventually die of AIDS.
The second priority will be to give the drugs to HIV-positive children who
are below the age of 15, and the third priority will go to what the
government calls "full-blown AIDS cases," like those of Bharat Vhushan.
Initially, many of those who get the free treatment may be among the
estimated 15,000 Indians who currently get antiviral drugs through private
charities. At the Lok Nyak clinic, Raijni, a nervous 32-year-old widow
whose husband died of AIDS, was one of the first six patients to enroll in
the program. She has been taking drugs for a year, funded by a private
group. "The medicine worked," she said. Now, she has the prospect of
keeping her health without depending on the private donor.
Sabin Russell is traveling in India on a grant from the Kaiser Family
Foundation. E-mail him at srussell-***@public.gmane.org ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2004 SF Chronicle
La vie..
http://www.stanford.edu/~yamanoor
http://yamanoor.tblog.com
---------------------------------
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