When one hears ‘HIV/AIDS’, it gets equated with a lot of issues and situations. If at one point of time, being HIV positive meant being subjected to intense stigma and discrimination, the strides in medical research, political action and more and more people coming forth to talk about living with HIV or losing somebody to it has brought more social tolerance. Because of the spotlight on HIV/AIDS, public health measures and systems have increased in leaps and bounds over the years. When the first cases of HIV/AIDS emerged across the world, there was rampant fear but gradually, there came a stage and the realization that the spectre of HIV/AIDS was best tackled head on and not by running away from it in panic. While experts in the medical and scientific world kept its fight and search on for arresting the growth of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, affected communities and NGO led interventions and support systems emerged on the fore. A landmark special session of the United Nations General Assembly on HIV/AIDS in New York in 2001 is significant in the course of the HIV/AIDS graph for this spurred countries to pledge to fight the epidemic and chalk out strategies, commit budgets to take up programs and services. The experience on the HIV/AIDS journey has come to a pass where ART medication, which is used to contain the impact of the virus on the health of a person living with it, is now made available by governments across the world free of cost. This was not always so and there was a time when ART drugs had to be brought at very expensive rates. For people to get access to ART medications, they had to get their diagnosis done, which has led to specialized medical personnel emerging on the scene. When it came about that people living with HIV were also at major risk of having TB as well and the same being true for people with TB when it came to HIV/AIDS, it led to hauling the system of TB care programs with more focus on direct observation therapy (DOT). The reality of HIV/AIDS has led to more medical infrastructure mechanisms being incorporated in health care settings.
Besides galvanizing the health sector, the community affected and infected with HIV/AIDS and various grass roots NGOs working in the area have also contributed in creating awareness about various other health issues even as they do start out by focusing on them through the HIV/AIDS lens. In Manipur specifically, where there is not much attention on the nutritional needs of children, there were already small pilot programs in place to give nutritional supplements for children living with HIV/AIDS or affected by it. The emergence of support groups and networks of people affected by HIV/AIDS in the state is something that is yet to be seen when it comes to other major diseases like cancer or heart related diseases. In Manipur, the lead taken by people living with HIV/AIDS to openly talk about their life journey and their learning’s has truly given the leeway to many others not able to get out of their homes and get themselves tested and under therapy. It is in this context, that the observation of certain days, take on special significance. July 28 being marked out as World Hepatitis Day is one such observation. The day incidentally honors the birthday of Nobel Laureate Professor Baruch Samuel Blumberg, discoverer of the hepatitis B virus. This year, the theme is “This is hepatitis. Know it. Confront it”, drawing attention to the fact that various Hepatitis viruses (A, B, C, D and E) poses a major health risk. In India, a country that is largely rural in nature despite claims to being a superpower, Hepatitis A gets a happy hunting ground since the virus is associated with a lack of safe water and poor sanitation and is transmitted through contaminated food and water, or through direct contact with an infectious person. Hepatitis B on the other hand is transmitted through contact with the blood or other body fluids of an infected person in much the same way as Hepatitis C and is an occupational hazard for health workers. Both Hepatitis A and B can be prevented by vaccines but not so for the more problematic Hepatitis C for which treatment, there are medical complications when the person is also HIV positive and on ART. With people and agencies in the HIV/AIDS sector talking about Hepatitis, the general population may well end up thanking the community of affected and infected for raising their voice.