Fight For Life

This article appeared in Tehelka
Fight For Life
MLAs in Nagaland and Manipur contribute time and money in the fight against AIDS
By TERESA REHMAN

When five members of the Legislators Forum on Aids (LFA) in Manipur visited the Community Care Centre in Churchandpur district last year, the bedridden, terminally ill patients were euphoric. “If VIPs like them visit us, I can definitely see a ray of hope for people like us. We also apprised them of the infrastructure and other facilities at the Centre and they promised to take care of it,” said an inmate of the Centre.

The LFA, Manipur officially was unveiled on June 30, 2007. On the launch of the forum, the Imphal Declaration was signed as a mark of commitment by the elected representatives on HIV-AIDS. All the members of the 60-member assembly are part of it including the Speaker of the House as the Chairman and its Secretary from the Opposition party, Manipur People’s Party.
The MLAs started visiting the best practice sites put in place by the NGOs and the government.

The elected representatives were also taken on an exposure trip to Sonagachi, a red light area in Kolkata to apprise the MLAs of the activities the sex workers were engaged with. As part of the sensitisation programme for the MLAs, public hearings with the church leaders, Panchayati Raj Institutions, church leaders and also with the key population were conducted. And the LFA, Manipur has 12 constituency-level conventions to its credit and they occasionally take stock of the functioning of the various Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) centres in the state.

Manipur was one of the first states to fall prey to the HIV virus in India and also had the most cases. The first case of AIDS here was detected in February 1989. Manipur now has over two percent of the country’s reported cases of AIDS despite having but 0.2 percent of the national population.

“For the first time in Manipur’s history, World AIDS Day was observed in the Legislative Assembly premises. We also constituted a forum of the elected Panchayat representatives at the grassroots,” says Sushil Huidrom, Coordinator, LFA in Manipur.

In a bid to sustain the programme which was originally funded by UNAIDS, the chief minister announced a grant of Rupees one crore and twenty lakhs to the Forum. And Rs 1 lakh each would be deducted from the MLA Local Area Development Fund amounting to a total of Rs 60 lakh. “We wish to be financially self-sustaining with technical support from UNAIDS. Now most of the MLAs make it a point to discuss the epidemic whenever they address the public and the NGOs too involve them in their activities,” adds Huidrom. The MLAs are made aware of the increasing feminisation of the AIDS although there is only one female elected representative in Manipur.

The LFA in the neighbouring Nagaland, which also has a high incidence of HIV-AIDS has an all-male assembly. Though the Forum was formally launched in 2003, it officially started functioning from September 2007. The Legislators Forum is a platform to complement and consolidate the AIDS control programmes implemented by Nagaland State AIDS Control Society (NSACS) with the assistance of over 40 NGOs in the state.

Dr Vinito, co-ordinator of the LFA in Nagaland says, “The Forum mainly works on political advocacy and is like a support unit to the State AIDS Control Society. Our main aim is to involve all the 60 members at their own levels – be it at the state, district, or their own constituencies.”

The main objective is to use the political platform to reach out to the grassroots. Till date, NGOs were operating independently but not involving the political leaders. We want to them to be the main spokespersons to eradicate the stigma associated with HIV-AIDS,” adds Dr Vinito.
The chief minister of the state is the chief patron and the speaker, the patron. In the first annual general meeting, all the 60 members were briefed about the importance of their involvement in the cause in spite of them holding different portfolios.

Last year the LFA, Nagaland organised a state-level convention and invited key players from all walks of life including NGOs, civil society and religious organisations. Each MLA contributed Rs 50,000 last year and this year they have promised Rs one lakh each. “The politicians encourage the people to come forward and undergo blood tests, thereby helping to do away with the stigma,” adds Dr Vinito.

Incidentally, a series of collaborative meetings between parliamentarians, media careerists and community leaders of Kenya, Mexico and India — all women — were held in Washington DC in June this year. This effort by the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF), the Centre for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA) and The Center for Women Policy Studies (CWPS) wanted to bridge the gap between the politicians and the other two sectors – media and community leaders— so that they work together to combat HIV-AIDS.

As of now, the LFA is functional in only the two states of the Northeast — Nagaland and Manipur but nevertheless it is a good beginning and sends out a positive message. Hopefully, such forums will be active in the other states of the region too. These are the two states with the highest incidence of HIV-AIDS mainly contracted through intravenous drug use. The proximity to Myanmar, one of the highest opium producing countries, has not helped.

The forum has also raised expectations among AIDS patients with their leaders now speaking up for them. L. Deepak Singh, president of the Manipur Network of Positive People says, “It’s a challenge for our elected representatives to bring this issue in the public fora. It calls for more commitment and should not exist just for namesake.”

Singh points out that, apart from organising public meetings, it is pertinent to address the issue of the new generation, a number of them having infected at birth. These young HIV positive patients need special care and counseling as they face the same stigma and discrimination for no fault of theirs. Singh says, “Many of them even hesitate to come to the ART centres to for their medicines as they are asked uncomfortable questions. Our leaders should understand that the dying cannot wait.”

Posted on Dec 12 , 2008