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Structural violence against Kothi-
identified
men who have sex with
men in Chennai...
Sexual and Reproductive Health
of People Living with HIV in
India...
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Enhancing the contribution of
PLHIV in India towards national
responses to HIV/AIDS
prevention and care
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Research done by INP+ and its partners are listed below. The
research reports are available for download on the
Downloads page. |
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The study is based on the necessity to listen to the voices of
people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) to create a truly national
network. The study, initiated in May, 1999, was held in New Delhi,
Mumbai, Bangaluru and Imphal covering over 100 respondents from the
PLHIV. The study has covered the whole gamut of the life of PLHIV
with an emphasis on care and support, discrimination and access to
information.
The study highlights the intensity of stigma and discrimination
faced by the PLHIV in India Societal aversion towards PLHIV, partly
manifest in moral or fear based HIV prevention campaigns and a
persuasive social environment has driven the epidemic underground,
making it harder to tackle. As the social acceptance of people
living with HIV and the visibility of the epidemic are interlinked,
messages giving proper and accurate information to promote an
enabling social environment for PLHIV AND sensitive prevention and
care programs are required to encourage PLHIV to live openly and
with dignity. Groups/ networks of people living with HIV should be
supported to give visibility to the epidemic. |
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People in desperate need of AIDS treatment do not have access to it.
And at the current pace of growth in treatment delivery, several
million will not have access by the end of 2010. Scale up of AIDS
treatment is driving unprecedented expansion of health delivery and
in the process, identifying critical challenges to health systems as
well as practical solutions to address them. This research
identifies many ways in which governments and global agencies must
act to correct systems essential to delivery of health.
The Missing the Target series is part of the Treatment Monitoring
and Advocacy Project (TMAP). The report is brought out by The
International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC), a leading
civil society coalition on treatment preparedness and access issues.
Missing the Target country reports document how the mobilization
around AIDS is driving health systems advancement in countries on
every continent, and they also reveal the need for improvements in
broader systems of care and services to meet the needs of PLWHA and
the communities in which they live. In India the research is carried
on by Abraham KK, Celina D’Costa, Bobby Jayanta, Murali Shunmugam,
Dr. Venkatesan Chakrapani, Indian Network for People living with HIV
(INP+).
 The research reveals the close interconnection of AIDS services with
other health and social supports. The lessons for successful AIDS
treatment are true for all health services: appropriate delivery
includes adequate nutrition, clean water, trained health workers,
accessible health clinics, integration of prevention and treatment,
and free provision of drugs, diagnostic and monitoring tests, and
other commodities. Mobilization around AIDS has raised new
resources, built consumer-engagement in providing health care,
marshaled enduring public support, and promoted the development of
results-oriented approaches to global health. Building on these
foundations should be a central strategy in developing comprehensive
systems of health care. In this fifth installment of the Missing the
Target report series, we are broadening and deepening our approach
to monitoring AIDS service delivery in heavily affected countries.
Seventeen teams (from Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia, and Latin
America) participated in the development of this report.
 In the first part, each country report demonstrates that increasing
access to AIDS treatment brings not only better life and new hope,
but also shines light on challenges and effective approaches to a
spectrum of health, poverty, and human rights issues. In part two of this report, the research team reviews drug access issues, and find
that global and national processes for AIDS drug registration are
burdened by inefficiencies, duplications, delay, and, in some
instances, corruption. In many cases key ARVs, particularly newer
and second-line therapies, are not yet registered in high impact
countries – an administrative roadblock that puts lifesaving care
out of reach for hundreds of thousands of people. While specifics
vary by country, our research reveals that high prices, patent
barriers, registration barriers, and misinformation among policy
makers and clinicians mean that many countries are using AIDS
treatment combinations that are not preferred according to WHO
guidelines,
The Missing the Target reports illustrate many connections between
access to AIDS treatment and wider health and social support issues.
Continuing monitoring and civil society pressuring plays a major
role in this improvement. The goal of getting AIDS treatment to more
and more people is working, saving millions of lives, and
transforming people’s relationship to health services around the
world.
Both reports are available for download on the
downloads page. |
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A study conducted by Research team, Indian Network for
People Living with HIV/AIDS.
This study was conducted to assess the current status of
GIPA. Based
on the study a GIPA strategy and implementation plan was developed
under the leadership of INP+, to incorporate the
GIPA strategy into
the National AIDS program. Currently consultations are being done
with key stake holders for the same |
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By: Venkatesan Chakrapani, Peter A. Newman, Murali
Shunmugam, Alan McLuckie, and Fredrick Melwin This
qualitative investigation explored the experiences and contexts of
stigma and discrimination among HIV–positive and high–risk Kothi–identified
men who have sex with men (MSM) in Chennai, India, and ramifications
for HIV prevention. The study was conducted in Chennai, a
metropolitan city of 6 million people. Chennai, formerly known as
Madras, is located on the Bay of Bengal in the southeast Indian
state of Tamil Nadu. The studies were conducted in collaboration
with three community–based organizations: Social Welfare Association
for Men (SWAM), Sahodaran (Brother), and Allaigal (Waves). These
organizations primarily serve Kothi–identified MSM, including
those who are HIV–positive and those who engage in sex work.
Kothi–identified MSM, as part of their self–defined role,
ostensibly do not engage in sex with one another. Kothis’
gender expression is feminine and they are attracted to masculine
partners, who they call panthis. Kothis are generally
of lower socioeconomic status and some Kothis engage in sex
work for survival. The findings of this study are best interpreted
in the context of Kothi identity and may not be transferable
to other groups of MSM in India.
Findings revealed multiple intersecting social and institutional
contexts and experiences of stigmatization, discrimination, and
violence across police, community, family, and health care systems,
as well as illuminating consequences for MSM. Multisystemic
structural violence places Kothis at extreme vulnerability
for HIV infection and AIDS. The present findings suggest that
challenging the Indian government to uphold human rights and to
combat stigmatizing and discriminatory practices against MSM may be
a central component in reducing HIV and AIDS vulnerability among MSM
in India (Mawar et al., 2005). Direct challenges to Indian federal
laws that effectively criminalize sexual relations between
consenting same–sex adults are central to resisting structural
violence, which promotes extreme vulnerability to HIV and AIDS among
MSM. Decriminalization of same–sex behaviors would also be a first
step toward enacting and enforcing anti-hate crime legislation that
would hold individuals accountable for violence and abuse targeting
Kothis and other MSM. Antidiscrimination education campaigns
in the mass media targeting the general public also may be an
important intervention to combat stigma and discrimination
associated with MSM and HIV/AIDS. Furthermore, designing and
implementing specific education and sensitization programs for
health care providers, both to counteract ignorance and end outright
prejudice and discrimination, is also essential to supporting HIV
prevention and treatment among MSM.
The report is available for download on the
downloads page. |
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Research documentation on contextual factors –
individual, interpersonal and structural that pose challenges in
designing prevention interventions among PLHIV; it emphasizes the
need for policy makers and health providers to acknowledge the
sexual aspirations of PLHIV and to assist them in accessing
information and support in sustaining safer sex
The report is available for download on the
downloads page. |
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Enhancing the contribution of people living with HIV/AIDS in
India towards national responses to HIV/AIDS prevention and care
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The poster is available for download on the
downloads page. |
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