Adding to AIDS awareness


The Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS) will soon be a part of the national focus on HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control. The SDMS health initiative is consistent with the tenets of the National HIV/AIDS Strategic Plan (2004-2008) and presents an ideal opportunity for partnership between the State and one of the major faith based organisations in Trinidad and Tobago. While the SDMS is the representative body for the majority of Hindus in Trinidad and Tobago, the SDMS Heath Initiative will be opened to the entire community in which SDMS schools and mandirs can be found. The SDMS has been holding discussions with various stakeholders (both internal and external) in the fight against HIV/AIDS over the last two years. As recent as August 2004 the SDMS held discussions with the National AIDS Coordinating Committee (NACC).

This is a direct reflection of the concern over the spread of the infection in Trinidad and Tobago. Flowing from this presentation, a committee was established by the SDMS of several executive members to develop a proposal for a national AIDS programme by the SDMS. This column reproduces in part some of the contents of the SDMS proposal. The NACC finally approved the SDMS proposal in February 2005 with a pilot project to begin the project. HIV was first documented in the Caribbean 21 years ago and since then 500,000 people have been infected in the region. The national response in the past has been uncoordinated, poorly monitored, and not sufficiently informed by best practice. Knowledge on how to provide care for people living with Aids has not been widely disseminated. The support systems available have been inadequate. There has also been too much focus on personalities and territory in the Caribbean response to HIV/AIDS.

In its drive to reduce if not remove the scourge of HIV/AIDS from Trinidad and Tobago the NACC has correctly realised that a mass media awareness campaign alone will not work. Programmes need to be tailored so that they reach specific communities within the larger national community. The traditionally conservative Hindu community has to be appealed to in a different manner than that of the other faiths. Of course there may be similarities of approach, but it is undeniable that each religion should be approached differently. The NACC realised to successfully reach the Hindu community the SDMS, as the legitimate Hindu voice, has to take the lead role. The Hindu and rural populations of Trinidad and Tobago are extremely tight-lipped about sexual behaviours and in particular the incidences of sexually transmitted diseases including HIV. In fact, many AIDS deaths are hidden and other “more community acceptable” diseases such as cancer and diabetes and cirrhosis of the liver are blamed for the person’s demise. The intention is not to enforce abstinence, safe sex and behavioural modification, but to talk about the disease and therein influence the appropriate response from the individual and the community at large.

This niche approach shall allow the NACC’s message to filter to each member of the religious and ethnic communities and therefore achieve the goal of a successful national education programme. The objectives of the NACC can be briefly described as to impart information on the HIV/AIDS epidemic; to sensitise participants on the impact of HIV and AIDS in Trinidad and Tobago and to contribute to the buy-in of the National HIV/AIDS Strategic Plan and its objectives. It was estimated that people living with HIV/AIDS at the end of 2001 as follows : CAREC member countries: 92,000 — 19 percent of total cases with a 1.4 percent HIV prevalence rate (CAREC and CDC) Dominican Republic: 130,000 — 27 percent of total cases with a 2.0 percent HIV prevalence rate (COPRESIDA/UNAIDS) Haiti: 250,000 — 52 percent of total cases with a 3.13 percent HIV prevalence rate (Source: Future Group/UNAIDS) Cuba: 3,200 (fast growing epidemic with a 28 percent increase between 2000 and 2001) — 0.7 percent of total cases with a 0.03 percent HIV prevalence rate (National AIDS Programme of Cuba/UNAIDS).

In Trinidad and Tobago it was reported that HIV cases up to mid 2003 numbered 12,568 (cumulative) and it was estimated that the number of people living with HIV at end of 2003 was greater than 20,000. In the SDMS’s proposal it was stated, “The SDMS is currently participating in the Caribbean Conference of Churches effort to develop an understanding and establish policies to mitigate against the impact of HIV on the Caribbean population. The SDMS principals and teachers have attended training workshops organised by the Ministries of Health and Education based on the practice of abstinence amongst secondary school children.”

The SDMS in early 2004 appointed a sub-committee of executive members including persons with some knowledge of HIV/AIDS (a) to build on the successes of the 1999/2000 effort by the Women’s Arm. (b) investigate the prevalence of the infection in its catchment. (c) through consultations, design programmes to prevent the spread of the infection and (d) consider the possibility of providing counselling and support to those already afflicted with the virus. In this respect, the suitability of using the old Orange Field Hindu School as a counselling centre is to be determined. The SDMS Health Initiative or SHI programme is therefore a firm commitment of deliberate intervention to avoid the impending disaster known as HIV/AIDS. The SDMS recognises that the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago cannot fight and win this battle alone. There must be sustainable participation and cooperation from all sectors if there is to be a successful story to report in the end.

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