PANOS London: 22 November 1995
Tony Samphier, a British journalist specialising in international affairs
He cites the case of India, which Geoff O'Malley of the London-based International HIV/AIDS Alliance predicts "in two years will probably have more HIV infections than any other country."
Admits Mukarji: "The first obstacle was my own. I thought AIDS was just a Western problem. Then I thought it was an African problem."
Even as evidence emerged that the epidemic was getting a grip in India, the government and the healthcare system was slow in training workers and organising effective prevention programmes: "We thought AIDS was just a small problem compared with the killers we know, like malaria, tuberculosis, malnutrition and childhood diarrhoea", he recalls.
Not enough was done to tackle the widespread fear and misunderstanding about the disease within the health service itself: "Doctors were afraid to work with AIDS patients - some didn't want to touch them. We had cases of staff walking out on people with the disease."
CMA was among the first to respond. In 1990 it started an AIDS programme for its 350 hospitals, including training for staff. Some of its healthworkers were sent to Africa to learn from colleagues there about dealing with AIDS on a routine basis.
"Doctors in poor countries have special problems", explains Mukarji. They may work in isolated communities or in hospitals with limited funds and equipment. Countries such as Uganda, Zimbabwe and Zambia have great experience of this.
"In the fight against AIDS, countries from the South must learn from each other", he emphasises.
Yet public awareness of AIDS in India is limited and little effort has been made to change behavioural practices. Mukarji believes time is running out: "Soon, just as in Africa, our friends, our communities, our churches, will be hit by AIDS. It will be too close to be ignored any longer."
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