States of denial: AIDS and South Asia

For long HIV (Human Immuno-deficiency virus)/AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) was thought to be a disease of the West transmitted through 'deviant' practice. Then AIDS devastated Africa, especially its women and children, and it was suddenly not so obvious that 'deviant' practice had anything to do with it. But even so, it was thought to be an African disease, caused by the licentious conduct of African men. Orthodox South Asian values, it was assumed, would be a sufficient vaccine against the rampant virus. This unfortunate attitude still persists, with devastating consequences.

In the last decade, much has been written and spoken in the media about the disease and the havoc it wreaked and continues to wreak in Africa, without making any serious dent in the obtuse approach of policymakers within South Asia. It is, therefore, not surprising that a health crisis of unimaginable proportions looms over close to a billion and a half people, threatening to afflict some 25 million people, and hence directly affecting some 250 million who will have to live with the premature, painful and entirely avoidable sickness or death of at least one close relative. Of these, a minimum of a 100 million could be immediate financial dependents. Add extended family and friends and upwards of 500 million will be connected, in differing degrees of intimacy, to AIDS bereavement. This is more than one-third the population of the most populous and densely packed region of the world. These may be back-of-the-envelope calculations but, if anything, they perhaps err on the side of caution than of excess. There are better ways for a billion and a half people to learn about the imprudent causes and lethal consequences of a disease that can be prevented through more efficient and less debilitating means.