U of M delves deeper into AIDS prevention in India
$22 million grant helps expand program and save more lives
JENELLE PETRINCHUK STAFF
The funding, to be provided over a five-year period, was officially announced Monday, Nov. 6, 2006 and will provide the “Enhance Karnataka” program with resources for AIDS prevention, treatment services and support.
The main role of the U of M’s program in India is to educate people about HIV and improve clinical and counseling services as well as provide adequate condom distribution.
Currently in the Indian provinces Karnataka and neighboring region, Andhra Pradesh — two of India’s most populated provinces, with a combined population of more than 110 million — HIV and AIDS are quickly becoming serious issues. Although in some areas the official infection rate is less than one per cent, according to experts, some areas have reached an infection rate of more than five per cent.
Based in India, James Blanchard — a U of M associate professor in the departments of community health sciences and medical microbiology and the senior technical advisor for the current project in India — explained that in the areas the U of M is focusing on they found a high level of fear and misunderstanding in relation to the disease.
“It was not uncommon to hear that people living with HIV and AIDS had been ostracized from the village and kept in a shed,” said Blanchard, via e-mail. “So our first agenda was to rapidly disseminate correct information about HIV and AIDS.”
According to John O’Neil, U of M’s head of community health sciences, this money will allow for an expansion of HIV prevention programs in southern India that have already been running for more than five years.
Although the project does not differ greatly from prevention projects in the past, Blanchard recognizes three ways in which Enhance Karnataka is original: the building of a strong information base, the focus on targeting the affected communities (including female sexworkers) and the fact that they are working closely with government agencies at all stages, including the Karnataka state government.
Results have already been noticed. “Very quickly we saw that the level of stigma and discrimination decreased and in many families and villages there was relief that they could care for those living with HIV and AIDS without fear,” said Blanchard.
To a certain degree, Enhance Karnataka is modelled after a U of M AIDS program launched in Kenya in the 1980s, and according to O’Neil, this is one of the reasons why U of M was chosen to receive the money.
“We have established a reputation in India over the last five years, beginning with a project funded from the Canadian government and then expanding with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, ” he said.
In 2000, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) funded the program with $12.5 million but withdrew its support in 2005 because the Indian government decided to limit aid from other nations. The program then received $17 million in funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
“I think I can fairly say that the government of India and most of the people with different organizations in India working on HIV prevention regard the University of Manitoba as the lead organization in the country when it comes to having expertise in HIV/AIDS prevention,” continued O’Neil.
Although the infected regions in India are not as severely or visibly affected as the more widely known epidemic in Africa, Blanchard pointed out that there are still districts in which the problem is quite severe.
“It’s important to note that in India a single district has the same population as Botswana,” he said.
According to Blanchard, support will be provided for about 9,000 sex-workers (a group that consumes about 10-15 per cent of the project’s focus) that will prevent thousands of infections in itself, in addition to the three to five million people inhabiting about 1,200 highrisk villages across 12 districts, trade centres where infection rates are higher.
The new grant is also allows for the expansion of assistance throughout rural areas that could not be reached before.
Although the results cannot be exactly predicted, Blanchard hopes that the five-year program will aid in the construction of “longerterm institutional capacities” in southern India that will continue to build on the foundation provided by the U of M’s program.
“I see the University of Manitoba continuing to play a key technical role in assisting in the design and implementation of effective programs, and disseminating the knowledge that we and our teams have gained to the wider public health community,” he concluded.
