Campaign highlights essential treatment and care options for HIV/AIDS
Chiang Mai Mail Newspaper
April 2005
“In the first three months of 2005 alone, more people have already died from AIDS-related conditions than the total number taking antiretroviral drugs throughout the world. This grim milestone is a stark reminder that as we grapple with the scale-up of global ARV access, we have to keep people with HIV alive in all possible ways,” said Abby Erikson, AIDS Care Watch campaign coordinator.
The monthly NGO forum held in Chiang Mai, Thailand was just one of several events taking place globally to launch the new AIDS Care Watch (ACW) campaign. The forum brought together people living with HIV/AIDS (PWHA), NGO workers and other interested members of the community to discuss the themes of the campaign: Listening to voices that matter, staying alive with HIV.
Introducing the speakers, forum moderator, Ajaarn Laurie Maund, of the Sangha Metta Project emphasized the vital importance of the campaign. He stressed that there are many ways to keep people living with HIV alive.
Abby Erikson opened the forum by showing a series of images representing ‘voices that matter’. The images were of activists, care workers and people living with HIV/AIDS from all over the world. “These people are fighting for the rights of those living with and affected by HIV. They are people who are inciting hope and working hard in their communities to keep people with HIV/AIDS alive and healthy, and often in situations where access to antiretroviral drugs is unavailable or under-available,” said Ms. Erikson.
“This is what the campaign is about. It is about listening to civil society and people living with HIV/AIDS. It is about us sitting in this room, coming together to let others know what care and treatment we need in our communities.”
Forum moderator, Ajaarn Laurie Maund, of the Sangha Metta Project
Ms Erikson explained that the idea for the campaign emerged during the last International AIDS Conference held in Bangkok in July 2004, where it became clear that the large-scale AIDS treatment initiatives (such as the World Health Organization’s ‘3 by 5’ initiative and the US’s emergency plan for AIDS relief) will not meet their AIDS treatment goals as soon as expected or needed.
The ACW campaign aims to highlight all HIV/AIDS care and treatment options available to people living with HIV. For the millions of people living with HIV who are not able to afford or access ARV treatment in the next few years, there are many ways that their lives can be extended.”
The forum in Chiang Mai focused on three of most pressing care and treatment issues for people living with HIV in Thailand: prevention and treatment of TB; tackling HIV related stigma; and pharmacotherapy for recovering drug users, the speakers that followed illustrated some of the ways in which people can be kept alive with HIV.
Representing the Office of Disease Prevention and Control, Sumalee Amarinsangpen spoke about the importance of providing prevention and treatment of tuberculosis to those living with HIV/AIDS. Northern Thailand has a particularly high rate of TB infection and a high level of TB/HIV co-infection. Sumalee emphasized the role that TB treatment plays in extending the lives of people living with HIV/AIDS. “It is vital that we develop integrated care for HIV and TB,” she said.
Addressing the devastating impact that stigma has on people living with HIV/AIDS, Bounnieum Vongjaikham, vice president of the Thai Upper North Network of people living with HIV/AIDS said, “How can PWHA maintain a good standard of life when society looks on them as germs?” Bounnieum spoke of the high level of ignorance and misconception that still exists in Thailand, partly because of early government campaigns that wrongly purported that ‘AIDS = death’. The stigmatization of people living with HIV/AIDS discourages many from disclosing their condition and seeking help, and restricts access to vital services and information. “Many people with AIDS die of opportunistic infections that are treatable and preventable,” he said.
Pharmacotherapy also plays a vital role in rehabilitating injecting drug users (IDUs) and can be an important way of maintaining the health of PWHA drug users. This was the issue raised by Montira Mayta of the Faa Mai Drug Dependency Treatment Centre. Montira explained how methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) worked and how much success they had had in working with IDUs. Some of the highest rates of HIV infection are to be found among injecting drug users but, Montira stressed, “MMT can help to significantly extend the lives of PWHAs. They no longer need to go back to heroine and no longer share needles, thus avoiding new infections that are detrimental to their health”.
Finally, Mae Chee Wirawan, a nun working with the Clear Sky Project addressed the participants. She talked of the importance of acknowledging our physical suffering and of finding ways to heal our mental pain. Recognizing the harmful effect of stigma, she advised, “No one can hurt us if our heart and mind are strong – this is what the Buddha teaches us.”
In the remaining time for participants to raise issues from the floor ‘stigma’ dominated as an impediment to healthy living for PWHAs. One of the participants called for “moral support for people with HIV to continue their lives”, and added, “Restoration of human dignity among PWHAs is essential.”
Bringing the forum to a close Ajaarn Laurie left us with this thought, “There are many people affected for every one infected. Helping someone with HIV to stay alive is helping families to stay alive.”
(April 2005)
April 2005
“In the first three months of 2005 alone, more people have already died from AIDS-related conditions than the total number taking antiretroviral drugs throughout the world. This grim milestone is a stark reminder that as we grapple with the scale-up of global ARV access, we have to keep people with HIV alive in all possible ways,” said Abby Erikson, AIDS Care Watch campaign coordinator.
The monthly NGO forum held in Chiang Mai, Thailand was just one of several events taking place globally to launch the new AIDS Care Watch (ACW) campaign. The forum brought together people living with HIV/AIDS (PWHA), NGO workers and other interested members of the community to discuss the themes of the campaign: Listening to voices that matter, staying alive with HIV.
Introducing the speakers, forum moderator, Ajaarn Laurie Maund, of the Sangha Metta Project emphasized the vital importance of the campaign. He stressed that there are many ways to keep people living with HIV alive.
Abby Erikson opened the forum by showing a series of images representing ‘voices that matter’. The images were of activists, care workers and people living with HIV/AIDS from all over the world. “These people are fighting for the rights of those living with and affected by HIV. They are people who are inciting hope and working hard in their communities to keep people with HIV/AIDS alive and healthy, and often in situations where access to antiretroviral drugs is unavailable or under-available,” said Ms. Erikson.
“This is what the campaign is about. It is about listening to civil society and people living with HIV/AIDS. It is about us sitting in this room, coming together to let others know what care and treatment we need in our communities.”
Forum moderator, Ajaarn Laurie Maund, of the Sangha Metta Project
Ms Erikson explained that the idea for the campaign emerged during the last International AIDS Conference held in Bangkok in July 2004, where it became clear that the large-scale AIDS treatment initiatives (such as the World Health Organization’s ‘3 by 5’ initiative and the US’s emergency plan for AIDS relief) will not meet their AIDS treatment goals as soon as expected or needed.
The ACW campaign aims to highlight all HIV/AIDS care and treatment options available to people living with HIV. For the millions of people living with HIV who are not able to afford or access ARV treatment in the next few years, there are many ways that their lives can be extended.”
The forum in Chiang Mai focused on three of most pressing care and treatment issues for people living with HIV in Thailand: prevention and treatment of TB; tackling HIV related stigma; and pharmacotherapy for recovering drug users, the speakers that followed illustrated some of the ways in which people can be kept alive with HIV.
Representing the Office of Disease Prevention and Control, Sumalee Amarinsangpen spoke about the importance of providing prevention and treatment of tuberculosis to those living with HIV/AIDS. Northern Thailand has a particularly high rate of TB infection and a high level of TB/HIV co-infection. Sumalee emphasized the role that TB treatment plays in extending the lives of people living with HIV/AIDS. “It is vital that we develop integrated care for HIV and TB,” she said.
Addressing the devastating impact that stigma has on people living with HIV/AIDS, Bounnieum Vongjaikham, vice president of the Thai Upper North Network of people living with HIV/AIDS said, “How can PWHA maintain a good standard of life when society looks on them as germs?” Bounnieum spoke of the high level of ignorance and misconception that still exists in Thailand, partly because of early government campaigns that wrongly purported that ‘AIDS = death’. The stigmatization of people living with HIV/AIDS discourages many from disclosing their condition and seeking help, and restricts access to vital services and information. “Many people with AIDS die of opportunistic infections that are treatable and preventable,” he said.
Pharmacotherapy also plays a vital role in rehabilitating injecting drug users (IDUs) and can be an important way of maintaining the health of PWHA drug users. This was the issue raised by Montira Mayta of the Faa Mai Drug Dependency Treatment Centre. Montira explained how methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) worked and how much success they had had in working with IDUs. Some of the highest rates of HIV infection are to be found among injecting drug users but, Montira stressed, “MMT can help to significantly extend the lives of PWHAs. They no longer need to go back to heroine and no longer share needles, thus avoiding new infections that are detrimental to their health”.
Finally, Mae Chee Wirawan, a nun working with the Clear Sky Project addressed the participants. She talked of the importance of acknowledging our physical suffering and of finding ways to heal our mental pain. Recognizing the harmful effect of stigma, she advised, “No one can hurt us if our heart and mind are strong – this is what the Buddha teaches us.”
In the remaining time for participants to raise issues from the floor ‘stigma’ dominated as an impediment to healthy living for PWHAs. One of the participants called for “moral support for people with HIV to continue their lives”, and added, “Restoration of human dignity among PWHAs is essential.”
Bringing the forum to a close Ajaarn Laurie left us with this thought, “There are many people affected for every one infected. Helping someone with HIV to stay alive is helping families to stay alive.”
(April 2005)
posted by AIDS-Care-Watch at 3:06 pm
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