Sunday, September 9, 2007

Some Words on Anirudha Alam

Anirudha Alam is a prominent AIDS researcher and working in a national NGO named BEES (Bangladesh Extension Education Services) as a Deputy Director (Information & Development Communication). He writes and edits more than forty books and a good number of articles on various issues like women empowerment, human rights, education awareness, social development, income generating activities, environment awareness, reproductive health, HIV/AIDS awareness, juvenile literature, short stories and so on. His noteworthy books are Kulsums and Karims (a collection of success stories of disadvantaged people of Bangladesh), Kulsums (a collection of success stories of disadvantaged & destitute women of Bangladesh), The Reflections (a collection of posters on literacy & education of Bangladesh), Towards a New Hope, Social Assistance Message Collection, Social Assistance Advocacy Manual, Eaisab Rat Din (a collection of juvenile poems), Du Sha Bachharer Sera Bangla Kishor Galapa (a collection of juvenile Bengali stories of two hundred years) etc. Website: http://anirudha-alam.blogspot.com

Gender Awareness, Stepping Stone to HIV Prevention

Gender Awareness, Stepping Stone
to HIV Prevention

Anirudha Alam


The spread of HIV and STI is mounting in developing countries through gender inequality and taboos around sexuality. It results in discrimination and stigma associated with drastic poverty and marginalization. Leading to empowerment, happiness and well being, gender awareness can help to promote both rights to be free of violence and coercion around sexuality. Sexual rights, an inclusive framework, guide to have knowledge of the links between different sexuality issues thoroughly recognizing that campaign against sexual violence must continue.

The number of women living with HIV is mushrooming than the number of men through out the world. In 2004, the number of women (15+) living with HIV was 12.7 million in Sub-Saharan Africa. But the number was increased to 13.3 million in 2006. HIV epidemic is disproportionately affecting women of South Africa. Young women (15-24 years) are four times more likely to be infected by HIV than are young men in this region. Prevalence among young women was 17% compared with 4.4% among young men in 2005.

HIV/AIDS entrenches gender inequality, denial and as well as threats to basic human rights. The relationship between HIV, gender and sexuality may be intertwined as a vicious circle. Unfortunately this aftermath limits women’s access to reproductive health information, STI (Sexually Transmitted Infection) prevention technologies and treatment. There is no doubt that gender inequality makes women experience poverty and vulnerable to STIs gravely.

According to the findings of BEES (Bangladesh Extension Education Services), 95% of the rural adolescent girls in Bangladesh are vulnerable to STIs and ill health due to gender discrimination, sexual violence and lack of knowledge regarding reproductive health. They do not know how to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS. Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallyan Foundation found that adolescent girls are two times more vulnerable to HIV and STD (Sexually Transmitted Disease) than the adolescent boys in urban areas of Bangladesh because of sexual harassment. In the name of so called gender equality, their reckless free mixing subculture is making them vulnerable significantly as well.

To curb the spread of HIV/AIDS, it is necessary to challenge the stigmatization and discrimination faced by women living with HIV/AIDS. Counting on collective action at all levels from community to national level, gender equality can strengthen the HIV and STI prevention through a coordinated action for establishing the right of safe sex. In 2005, half of the new HIV infections occurred due to unprotected sex in China. Moreover with HIV spreading successively from most-at-risk population to general population, the number of HIV infections among women is increasing fast.

In the developing countries, most of the women have very little or no knowledge about HIV transmission as well as risk before they are diagnosed HIV positive. Married women do not want to think that they may be at risk of infection. In Bangladesh, the women are induced by their family members to conceive. On the other hand, they feel under presser from healthcare workers to avoid conception. But in most cases, none of them provides necessary information clearly to help the vulnerable women conceive safely or to lessen risk of mother to child transmissions.

Involving women living with HIV, national social welfare organizations, community based organizations (CBOs), academies and policymakers, there may be a promising plan to develop advocacy strategies and extend counseling to women diagnosed in antenatal clinics. It will highlight the necessity to ameliorate the plight as for gendered response to the needs and desires of vulnerable women. Consequently it will be possible to build their life skills to enable them to work with field workers, researchers, monitors, evaluators, policymakers at all levels of program design and implementation, research, monitoring, evaluation and policymaking. Then it would be possible to keep HIV in bay effectively stamping out discrimination, stigmatization and sexual violence through gender awareness as a whole.


Anirudha Alam
Deputy Director
(Information & Development Communication)
BEES (Bangladesh Extension Education Services)
183, Lane 2, Eastern Road, New DOHS
Mohakhali, Dhaka 1206
Bangladesh.
Website:http://www.bees-bd.org, http://www.newsletter.com.bd/anirudha
Phone: 01718342876, 9889732, 9889733 (office), 8050514 (res.)
E-mail: anirudha.alam@gmail.com, info@bees-bd.org, bees@worldnetbd.net

Ref: UNDP, UNESCO, World Bank

En-gendering AIDS Prevention Gateway to Sustainable Development

http://www.newsletter.com.bd/anirudha/
En-gendering AIDS Prevention
Gateway to Sustainable Development


Anirudha Alam

Nowadays gender discrimination is the key challenge for sustainable development. It widens the likelihood of HIV/AIDS epidemic. So we have to alleviate all the discriminations as regards achieving ownership, leadership and dignity, enjoying freedom, controlling resources, accessing to information, establishing rights, making decision, grooming voices, taking responsibility as well as participating in development activities.

Women are being increasingly affected by HIV. So the reduction of gender-based discrimination has to be integral to the strategic response to HIV/AIDS. Otherwise there is a great scope that HIV/AIDS epidemic may be feminized. The aftermath of feminized endemic is very much enough for ruining overall development achievement. As per the UNAIDS report 2004, nowhere is the epidemic’s ‘feminization’ more perceptible than in sub-Saharan Africa, where fifty seven per cent of adults infected are women as well as seventy five per cent of young people infected are women and girls.

An essential fact is that lack of good governance is the ideal vehicle of deprivation and poverty. Concurrently spread of HIV/AIDS is closely associated with poverty and discrimination. All of these social issues intertwined with different byproducts like stigmatization, violence and sexual abuse affect the endeavors dedicated to establishing just society. People centered planning with a view to ensuring exclusive participation, accountability, commitment and transparency may promote good governance undoubtedly. Capitalizing on this pro-poor planning, HIV/AIDS prevention should be led by gender sensitized policy and strategy. Eventually, as a far-seeing impact it is possible to achieve sustainable development.

A socio-economic study in 2006 conducted by Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallyan Foundation shows that lack of reproductive health literacy attributed by social stigma and poverty among adolescents at rural level in Bangladesh makes 98% young women practice risky behaviors. They are growing as unskilled manpower having minimal livelihood development. They are turning into vulnerable especially to STDs (sexually transmitted diseases)/HIV/AIDS on a great scale. Their vulnerabilities due to their too little life-skill are affecting the mainstream process of sustainable development extensively.

Being affected by the negative social and economic consequences of HIV/AIDS, women are compelled to experience various kinds of deceptions and deprivations cruelly. Therefore, a gender-inclusive approach to HIV/AIDS has to play a role to ensure women’s rights to productive resources comprising land, credit, agricultural technologies, and other facilities. In this regard, initiating outreach on HIV/AIDS to rural communities may help mitigate the negative impact of HIV/AIDS on sustainable development as a whole.

Without having gateway to health knowledge and protection comprehensively, women are very much susceptible to HIV infection. They, especially the young women, bear the vulnerability of the reproductive tract tissues to the virus. The stigma of STIs in women makes them hesitate to get proper treatment. They are supposed to bear the maximum burden of caring for sick family members. But often they have less care and support when they themselves are infected severely.

As the stepping stone to sustainable development, in the 1980s a new approach was evolved. This is the mainstreaming strategy which aims to make the goal of gender equality central to all development activities. If AIDS prevention is not en-gendered sustainable development might be endangered. So to en-gender all the development initiatives, especially HIV/AIDS prevention, it is necessary to involve a strategy for making women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences an integral part of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programs in all political, economic and social spheres. It results in that men and women will be benefited equally and inequality will be removed as a whole.


Anirudha Alam
Deputy Director
(Information & Development Communication)
BEES (Bangladesh Extension Education Services)
183, Lane 2, Eastern Road, New DOHS
Mohakhali, Dhaka 1206
Bangladesh.

Phone: 8801718342876, 88029889732, 88029889733 (office)
88028050514 (res.)

E-mail: anirudha.alam@gmail.com
info@bees-bd.org, bees@worldnetbd.net
Website: http://anirudha-alam.blogspot.com/

Ref: UNAIDS, World Bank, UNFPA, UNESCO

AIDS Prevention Spotlighted by Gender Mainstreaming http://www.newsletter.com.bd/anirudha/

AIDS Prevention Spotlighted
by Gender Mainstreaming

Anirudha Alam

Spread of HIV/AIDS results in risk of losing forms of social and economic protection. There is no doubt that onslaught of HIV/AIDS is closely associated with gender inequality and poor respect for the rights of women. So to mitigate the multiple impacts of epidemic, gender mainstreaming should be significantly integrated into HIV/AIDS prevention programs. Eventually, HIV prevention and impact mitigation policy will be able to make the realization of gender equality one of the most important strategies.

Gender mainstreaming for HIV/AIDS is to ensure gender equality in all policies, programs and activities that it would be possible to keep the epidemic in bay. It is the most efficient and equitable means for using existing resources with a view to combating HIV/AIDS internalizing need based approach. At a rough estimate since the beginning of the epidemic, over 10 million women have died from HIV/AIDS-resulted illness. 48 per cent of adults newly affected by HIV/AIDS in 2001 were certainly women. The fact that lack of gender mainstreaming along with domination of social stigma and discrimination creates a tremendous barrier to women making them unable to adopt HIV risk-reducing behavior.

Social stigma and gender discrimination engulf series of possibilities to reduce vulnerability to HIV/AIDS successively. The enhanced poverty and developmental decline nourished by gender inequality may make women and girls engaged in risky sexual behavior in lieu of getting money, food and other facilities. Having lack of enough access to quality treatment and care, then they fall into enormous vulnerability to sexually transmitted diseases (STIs) one after another.

As per the finding of Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallyan Foundation, 95 per cent adolescent girls of Bangladesh are drastically vulnerable to HIV/AIDS because of their paltry access to necessary information for protecting their reproductive health. Due to their poverty at the levels of awareness, skill, knowledge, attitude and practice all along, they are being more vulnerable consecutively. When they are enough adult they are not able to ensure their role as potential manpower in planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating pro-gender programs and projects.

Considering all the situations related to sexual behavior, social attitudes and praxis, financial empowerment and so on, there are in-depth differences between men’s and women’s access to information, prevention, treatment and care-giving supports. It is much more common in all cultures that commitments for guiding sexual behavior and sexual health are being threatened by gender discrimination. If women and girls have not qualitative reproductive health literacy HIV/AIDS will be turned into as the greatest social problem in developing countries. According to the findings of UNAIDS, as of December 2000, ninety five per cent of all AIDS cases have occurred in developing countries.

Through promoting, facilitating and supporting the implementation of gender mainstreaming, AIDS prevention should be brought about under the spotlight of women empowerment. Gender mainstreaming and women empowerment are obviously complementary strategies. So the strategy of gender mainstreaming within HIV/AIDS prevention should be outlined that women empowerment is ensured.


Anirudha Alam
Deputy Director
(Information & Development Communication)
BEES (Bangladesh Extension Education Services)
183, Lane 2, Eastern Road, New DOHS
Mohakhali, Dhaka 1206
Bangladesh.

Phone: 8801718342876, 88029889732, 88029889733 (office)
88028050514 (res.)

E-mail: anirudha.alam@gmail.com
info@bees-bd.org, bees@worldnetbd.net
Website: http://anirudha-alam.blogspot.com

Ref: UNAIDS, World Bank, Commonwealth Secretariat, UNESCO

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Building Life Skill through Reproductive Health Literacy Reduces Vulnerability to HIV/AIDS

Building Life Skill through Reproductive Health Literacy
Reduces Vulnerability to HIV/AIDS

Anirudha Alam

Reproductive health literacy has a sustainable preventive impact to promote a healthy lifestyle as well as responsible behavior. It is among the most powerful tools for reducing adolescents’ vulnerability to HIV/AIDS through providing necessary knowledge, stimulating positive attitudes and bringing about life skills. Life skill engendered from reproductive health literacy mobilizes efforts targeting to lessen high risk behavior.

Best practices may be adopted undoubtedly through peer education resulting in positive attitude within positive environment. An effective reproductive health literacy approach is multi-sectoral and integrated to address all factors that increase vulnerability as for HIV/AIDS. Vulnerable sexual behavior nourished by ill believes, discrimination, drug and alcohol abuse, peer pressure and so on deprives people to enhance ability to prevent STIs. Ensuring to attain life skill, reproductive health literacy fosters analytical thinking and healthy habits. Adolescents having qualitative reproductive health literacy are very much responsible to gather adequate knowledge and potential expertise to curb infection of HIV/AIDS.

Adolescents need skills necessarily to practice safe behavior through reproductive health literacy with a view to creating self-esteem extensively to foil undesired peer and adult pressure. Thus they may have such core life skills as negotiation, ability of working together, self-awareness, decision-making, critical thinking, bargaining and diversity of creativity through gender session, orientation, training, courtyard meeting for exchanging views and experiences.

Adolescent girls are very much vulnerable suffering from discrimination and depriving of rights due to their social and cultural values and ill believes. Consequently they are mostly drop-out from formal education and made resort to risky behavior. Lack of access to HIV/AIDS information and prevention services provokes them to practice unsafe sexual behavior.

Adolescents, especially the girls, have to have exclusive opportunity to be aware of HIV/AIDS through preventive education that they are able to maintain their future partner’s reproductive and sexual health. Parents often feel embarrassed and hesitate to discuss with their adolescents to teach them about STIs frankly due to their strong religious believes, superstition practices and moral resistance.

Qualitative reproductive health literacy integrating preventive education to promote life skill ensures the social empowerment of adolescents. Academic curriculum should be designed and conducted to stimulate the creativity of adolescent girls through the holistic approach of income generating activities (IGA) internalizing gender awareness. Thus the impact of qualitative reproductive health literacy will sustain comprehensively making them socially empowered. After a certain period completing their secondary education, they will be able to influence their community as a persuasive pressure group to be aware of HIV/AIDS. In the name of women empowerment, this kind of life skill has a far-reaching and promising development output.

Adolescents have the consecutive acceptance and access to the respective community people. They may organize community based organizations (CBOs) in order to raise awareness. In the course of ongoing community mobilization through CBOs, adolescents will be able efficiently to set the community people thinking about HIV/AIDS prevention. Eventually the knowledge on HIV/AIDS can spread quickly and effectively as per desired outcome. Leaving a long lasting mark upon the community people, thus community based HIV/AIDS prevention program will be expanded by way of advocacy and behavioral change communication (BCC) on a great scale. In this aspect, the adolescents have to be trained up to conduct intensive interpersonal communication (IPC) that they may present information on HIV/AIDS prevention in a brief, dramatic and memorable fashion.

It is the utmost important to realize the potential that the academic curriculum has to fulfill the right of adolescents to reproductive health literacy as for attaining life skill. Then the aftermath makes them committed to the campaign of HIV/AIDS prevention seriously.


Anirudha Alam
Deputy Director
(Information & Development Communication)
BEES (Bangladesh Extension Education Services)
183, Lane 2, Eastern Road, New DOHS
Mohakhali, Dhaka 1206
Bangladesh.
Website: http://www.newsletter.com.bd/anirudha
Phone: 01718342876, 9889732, 9889733 (office), 8050514 (res.)
E-mail: anirudha.alam@gmail.com, info@bees-bd.org, bees@worldnetbd.net

Ref: UNESCO, World Bank

HIV/AIDS Prevention through Qualitative Adolescent Reproductive Health Literacy

HIV/AIDS Prevention through
Qualitative Adolescent Reproductive Health Literacy

Anirudha Alam

Parents should be thoroughly taught about HIV/AIDS prevention from the Community Learning Centre (CLC). Then they will be able to build up their capacity properly to make their children aware of HIV/AIDS initially. Adolescents have more opportunities to be misguided due to their peer pressure and involved in danger for having inadequate knowledge as to safe reproductive health. So the scopes should be made available for the adolescents that they can learn about reproductive health care through their academic curriculum. In this regard, teachers having more friendly behavior may play an important and essential role coming in close contact with the students. They may arrange peer group session regularly under the respective course curriculum. Operating various kinds of cultural and entertainment oriented events in the campus may add extra attraction stimulating students’ interest in HIV/AIDS Prevention Program. If we fail to take necessary and timely initiatives comprehensively for ensuring qualitative adolescents reproductive health literacy HIV/AIDS prevalence will be climbing higher into new population rapidly in the vulnerable parts of the world.

Qualitative reproductive health literacy comes in to bring about positive attitude among the adolescents to prevent HIV/AIDS. Simultaneously a promising and profound perception is engendered throughout their inner beings to practice general health care regularly. As a result they will not be affected easily by superstitions and ill believes. They can help other people to combat such kind of social problems as well. Early marriage, dowry, polygamy and so on create various kinds of social ailment which gives rise to sexual wantonness. The adolescents may be involved to foil the spread of social deterioration promoted by early marriage, dowry and polygamy. They may create awareness working door to door and arranging courtyard meeting on the importance of reproductive health literacy. Thus community based reproductive health campaign can be strengthened with the help of collective effort of local adolescents. This promising endeavor has far-reaching sustainable impact to lessen the vulnerability related to HIV/AIDS calamity communitywise.

Qualitative reproductive health literacy helps to kindle the inner beings and values of adolescents to do something having a well-thought-out plan. Thus counting on strong and deepest confidence, adolescents begin to learn that they have right to know how they can protect themselves and how to mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS. Many persons think that reproductive health literacy may lead to greater sexual activity and promiscuity among the adolescents. But it is not true at all. As per the findings of various in-depth surveys, there is no alternative of qualitative health literacy to increase responsible behavior. Responsible behavior makes adolescents interested to know about basic facts on HIV/AIDS and other STIs and the essential skills to protect themselves. Concurrently adolescents are stirred up to know how to safeguard their family members and friends from HIV/AIDS as well as how to make them participate in promoting HIV/AIDS awareness campaign.

Community based HIV/AIDS prevention activities should be conducted gathering assistance and support enormously from the community people through giving emphasis on their perceptions especially. In this regard, social mobilization may be ignited organizing community based adolescent welfare organization all along. This strategic plan results in more community participation through the perspective of action research. Community’s participation towards the HIV/AIDS prevention program promoted by social mobilization can equips people to make healthy decisions concerning their own lives. To bring about long-term healthy behaviors and give community people the scope for economic independence and hope, qualitative reproductive health literacy may play a significant role. It helps to slow and reverse the spread of STIs contributing to social upliftment through preventing dowry, early marriage, polygamy and other social diseases.

So to outline an integrated and ideal HIV/AIDS prevention program, participation of community people comprising adolescents having qualitative reproductive health literacy should be ensured any how. As a whole in the aspect of implementation of HIV/AIDS prevention program successfully, it certainly needs to fulfill and guarantee the right to qualitative reproductive health literacy for the adolescents.

Anirudha Alam
Deputy Director
(Information & Development Communication)
BEES (Bangladesh Extension Education Services)
183, Lane 2, Eastern Road, New DOHS
Mohakhali, Dhaka 1206
Bangladesh.
Website: http://www.newsletter.com.bd/anirudha
Phone: 01718342876, 9889732, 9889733 (office), 8050514 (res.)
E-mail: anirudha.alam@gmail.com, info@bees-bd.org, bees@worldnetbd.net

Ref: UNAIDS, UNESCO, UNISEF

Reducing HIV/AIDS vulnerability among adolescents

Reducing HIV/AIDS vulnerability among adolescents

Anirudha Alam

To reduce HIV/AIDS vulnerability among adolescents, there is a need to develop strategies and methods for effective curriculum focusing on sex education and life skills especially. Internalizing more participatory learning-teaching method, it is felt that a stronger integration of prevention education vis-à-vis sex & reproductive health approaches is essential for improving the high-quality HIV prevention & care. It is estimated that there are 1.2 billion adolescents in the world. Near about eighty seven percent of these adolescents live in the developing countries. More than eighty five percent adolescents of Bangladesh do not know what reproductive health is and how to practice safe sex. Most of them are not aware of how to undermine the vulnerability to HIV/AIDS. To make them free from such encumbrance as HIV/AIDS, we have to ensure a healthy and promising environment. It is believed that if the adolescents have qualitative reproductive health literacy ultimately HIV/AIDS prevention programs initiated by GOs and NGos will be successful.

Only effective education can ensure qualitative reproductive health literacy. This kind of literacy helps adolescents analyze thoroughly basic information, core messages, values and praxis related to HIV/AIDS prevention. Simultaneously they are able to inculcate caring and supportive attitudes towards people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). They possess the basic facts and information bringing about acquisition of knowledge and development of attitudes, values, skills and practices (KAVSP) as to undermining the spread of HIV/AIDS. Consequently they have profound awareness on practicing safe sex, use of condoms, gender equity, harmful effect of early marriage, premarital sex and unplanned pregnancy.


Reducing HIV/AIDS vulnerability among adolescents may be promoted auspiciously through evaluating the attitudes and values within community based social norms/beliefs, cooperation and teamwork. From the salad days, adolescents have to be guided by active and participatory learning that they may analyze, study ideas, solve problems and apply what they learn. It is important to ensure that active learning would be fast-paced, enjoyable and personally engaging. In this regard, cooperative learning may play a vital role to make the adolescents aware of HIV/AIDS significantly. It is one kind of effective group approaches with a view to learning with common objectives, mutual rewards, shared resources and complementary roles. Through this approach, group members are stimulated to help each other to master the lesson or activity. Thus an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect are established. Eventually the learning environment is warm as well as adolescents are made to express their views, opinions, attitudes and behaviors freely.

Adolescence is the prime and sensitive period of so many physical, emotional and cognitive developments. So adolescents have to experience many changes unexpectedly. In most cases, they remain unaware of how to efficiently cope with these kinds of physical and psychological changes. Attitudes to sexuality are being developed gradually during puberty. In this time, if adolescents are misguided or deprived of acquiring reproductive health literacy they will suffer all the time in their lives. There is no doubt that sexual maturity leads to happiness and fulfillment in future personal and social relationships. So there is no alternative for adolescents to learn about issues related to reproductive health from parents, teachers and other elders for being able to understand and develop a healthy attitude.

Vulnerability to HIV/AIDS is skyrocketing in the developing countries jeopardized by lack of qualitative reproductive health literacy among the adolescents. But reproductive health literacy itself offers one of the key hopes against HIV/AIDS epidemic as well as its influential eventualities. In fighting the pandemic, reproductive health literacy comprising transfer of skills and attitudes to reduce adolescents’ vulnerabilities to HIV/AIDS is the most effective means. It is seriously necessary to reduce the fear of HIV/AIDS any how. Reproductive health literacy can do a lot to combat HIV/AIDS facilitating adolescents in attaining the knowledge, attitudes and skills that they need to delay sexual intercourse, reduce their number of sex partners, prevent illicit drug/substance use and avoid infection by using condoms.

The academic curriculum of the developing countries like Bangladesh should provide adolescents with opportunities to learn and practice life skills, such as decision-making and communication skills, which can strengthen other important areas of early life development. It is expected that different aspects of inclusive HIV/AIDS/STI study must be built-in into all suitable subject areas, such as reproductive health, human rights & legal aids, home economics, gender development & women empowerment, social studies and science.


Anirudha Alam
Deputy Director
(Information & Development Communication)
BEES (Bangladesh Extension Education Services)
183, Lane 2, Eastern Road, New DOHS
Mohakhali, Dhaka 1206
Bangladesh.

Phone: 01718342876, 9889732, 9889733 (office)
8050514 (res.)
Website: http://www.newsletter.com.bd/anirudha
E-mail: anirudhaalam@yahoo.com
info@bees-bd.org, bees@worldnetbd.net

Gender Equality, Beacon of Hope for AIDS Prevention

Gender Equality, Beacon
of Hope for AIDS Prevention

Anirudha Alam


Gender equality, a well-defined by-product of human development, always entrenches inclination on how to focus attention on women empowerment. Simultaneously women empowerment confronts challenges consecutively in translating the responsibilities to gender equality into action. Gender discrimination is the prime source of endemic poverty leading to skyrocketing HIV prevalence. With a view to making gender equality a reality as a core commitment, women empowerment has to be the stepping stone to sustainable development.

HIV/AIDS epidemic is raging in Africa and mounting all over the world mostly due to gender discrimination, stigmatization and unsafe sex practice. To make the spread of epidemic flagged, widening gender gaps must be combated. Nowadays young women and girls are at a much higher risk than men. As per the findings of surveys and case studies conducted in Africa, adolescent girls are 5-6 times more likely to be infected by HIV virus than boys.

Taking an inclusive approach to gender awareness, people should be stimulated to move towards a common interest for sexual rights. Sexuality comprising sex, gender identities, amusement, sensualism as well as reproduction is considered as the cornerstone of being human all over the life through experiencing and sharing thoughts, beliefs, perception, values, fantasies, excitement, desire, interest, attitudes, praxis, behavior, relationships and so on. In the name of gender equality, sexuality may be guided positively and creatively by social, economical, biological, legal, ethical, racial, political, historical, religious, psychological and cultural factors interwoven inextricably. As a result, it would be easy to take any kind of promotional activities fruitfully for reducing vulnerabilities to STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) and HIV/AIDS.

Sexual and reproductive ill-health results in dire poverty led to widespread vulnerabilities to HIV/AIDS. Sexual and reproductive health problems account for about 20% of ill-health of women globally and 14% of men occurred owing to lack of appropriate sexual and reproductive health. In Saudi Arabia, approximately half (46 per cent) of HIV infection was eventuated due to unprotected sex in 2005. All are mostly the consequences of gender discrimination attributed by religious dogmas, social ill-beliefs and monopolistic male hegemony intertwined with unsafe sex practices.

According to the social development specialist Saiful Islam Robin, “It should be realized that there is no alternative to develop and enhance life skills of vulnerable girls and women to cope with epidemic. They may be assisted on the various levels to become engaged in grooming their confidence and organized. At the same time, their voices should be allowed to be heard loud and clear. Thus the collective effort of women is born with the sense or purpose that they will be stirred up to share perceptions improving their access to reproductive health related information and services.”

Gender equality helps vulnerable women to be benefited from poverty reduction, activities for sustainable development, access to information & communication technology as well as HIV prevention. As a cross-cutting dimension of human development, campaigning for gender equality underpins human rights protected in law and practice. It supports fruitfully capacity development of women enhancing women’s participation in development activities.

As per the findings of a recent research entitled ‘Role of Poverty Reduction to Reduce Vulnerability to HIV/AIDS in Bangladesh’ initiated by Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallayan Foundation, “To track how epidemic often widens when vulnerability deepens, gender mainstreaming in poverty reduction strategies has to integrate multi-disciplinary approach specially focusing on good governance and gender equality through promoting participatory resource planning and internalizing HIV/AIDS prevention into overall development initiatives. Poverty is closely associated with illiteracy and women’s so called participation in development programs. As a result, vulnerability to HIV/AIDS is fueled promoted by gender discrimination and power imbalances between male and female.”

An essential fact is that everybody should be committed to gender mainstreaming. Gender mainstreaming is the keystone in human development. So every development program like HIV/AIDS prevention should be deliberate in providing support to establish human rights that women may be benefited equally from gender neutral development strategies.


Anirudha Alam
Deputy Director
(Information & Development Communication)
BEES (Bangladesh Extension Education Services)
183, Lane 2, Eastern Road, New DOHS
Mohakhali, Dhaka 1206
Bangladesh.
Website:http://www.bees-bd.org, http://www.newsletter.com.bd/anirudha
Phone: +88 01718342876, +88029889732, +88029889733 (office), +88028050514 (res.)
E-mail: anirudha.alam@gmail.com, info@bees-bd.org, bees@worldnetbd.net

Ref: UNDP, WHO, UNAIDS, Family Care International

Community based strategic plan to curb spread of HIV/AIDS

Community based strategic plan
to curb spread of HIV/AIDS

Anirudha Alam


Curbing the spread of HIV/AIDS is a human rights issue. A commitment to solidarity, hope and compassion promotes comprehensive campaign as for HIV/AIDS prevention. It may result in a holistic effort to strengthen community based network through advocacy, capacity building and behavioral change communication (BCC). Having no minimal amenities, community people are led to vulnerabilities to HIV/AIDS enormously. They are mostly disadvantaged due to having no access to basic rights. If there is any community based common plan in support of the local response to HIV epidemic the reasons of vulnerability may be removed gradually and effectively.

Community based strategic plan to address HIV/AIDS should be outlined to prevent escalation of epidemic through action research in ways that recognize human rights and self-respect. In this aspect, it is greatly essential to organize social mobilization and accelerate support form local stakeholders and development partners involved in the community based response to HIV. There is no doubt that community based approach is a fundamental mechanism to stimulate the local contribution to deal with HIV/AIDS. To gather maximum support for community based efforts on HIV/AIDS, at first programs have to emphasize on coming in close contact with the local people. This is the effective means to be familiar with the values and perception of local people. Then they will be made to understand and perform the desired responsibility in response to HIV/AIDS.

Community based strategic plan encompassing local expertise and constructive commitment should be initiated to subvert the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the light of national HIV policy framework and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It would allow a profound and greater understanding of the nature of epidemic, its spread and eventuality.

According to UNAIDS estimates, over half of new HIV infections are occurring among young people (15-24 years) – or over 7,000 new infections a day worldwide. Around 95% of people with HIV/AIDS live in the communities of developing countries. Nowadays HIV is a common threat to men, women and children in all communities throughout the world. The challenges in responding to HIV/AIDS may vary enormously from community to community owing to geographical location, livelihood status, social infrastructure and so on. Cross border movement, women trafficking, neighboring to high prevalent communities, gaps in health care delivery, low levels of HIV/AIDS awareness and sexual bondage because of poverty make the communities vulnerable affecting public health systems. To combat this vulnerability with regard to HIV/AIDS, there is no single solution. But integrated community approach may play an influential role to protect from sexually transmitted infections (STIs). This is why adopting a gender sensitive and human rights based approach, community oriented strategic plan will be well-equipped and groomed with a wide range of local stakeholders’ support and participation to address HIV/AIDS. Side by side community people will be efficient to discuss and develop norms, values and practice as to safe sexual behavior.
Community focused strategic plan for HIV/AIDS has to be based on the reality of the epidemic engendered from thorough case studies. The prevalence of HIV may remain low in communities. But there are some considerable factors that can play vital role to fuel its rapid spread extensively. Polygamy, dowry, gender violence & discrimination, believes in superstitions as well as lack of safe health practice may kindle the spread of HIV/AIDS. If the awareness is not shaped fruitfully community wise, all of the programs to undermine the spread of HIV/AIDS will be failed. For instance, HIV/AIDS prevalence was low for many years in Indonesia even with lots of risky behavior. But in the past two or three years, the circumstances have been changed. At present, HIV/AIDS prevalence is growing severely in several communities of the country.

At last we may infer that any kind of community based strategic plan should be comprehensive, consistent, coordinated, constructive, consequence oriented and above all committed to community exclusively. Capitalizing on these key characteristics indicated by six C’s, it will be possible to attain a high watermark of success to combat skyrocketing vulnerability to HIV/AIDS.



Anirudha Alam
Deputy Director
(Information & Development Communication)
BEES (Bangladesh Extension Education Services)
183, Lane 2, Eastern Road, New DOHS
Mohakhali, Dhaka 1206
Bangladesh.

Phone: 8801718342876, 88029889732, 88029889733 (office),
88028050514 (res.)
Website:http://www.bees-bd.org, http://www.newsletter.com.bd/anirudha
E-mail: anirudha.alam@gmail.com,
info@bees-bd.org, bees@worldnetbd.net

Ref: UNAIDS, UNESCO, UNISEF

Reproductive Health Literacy Undermines the Spread of Vulnerability to HIV/AIDS

Reproductive Health Literacy Undermines the Spread of Vulnerability to HIV/AIDS

Anirudha Alam


Undermining the possibility of STIs, reproductive health literacy creates a safe and supportive environment for adolescents in a world with HIV/AIDS. It ensures their protection from sexual abuse, ill-believes and so-called dogmas. With particular attention to HIV/AIDS mitigation, flexible non-formal approaches for making sure reproductive health literacy should be adopted by the academic curriculum in which sustainable development and poverty alleviation would have the highest priority. In all aspects of planning and policy making, a comprehensive curriculum should be launched essentially internalizing demand driven steps to reduce stigma, discrimination and poverty brought about by HIV/AIDS. Bringing in and upgrading life skill education as well as making HIV/AIDS awareness an inbuilt chapter of the text-curriculum, qualitative reproductive health literacy promotes the culture of preventing stigma, denial and discrimination. Nowadays in the name of qualitative reproductive health literacy, it is very much necessary to incorporate HIV/AIDS into a broader health education approach and into other subjects. Adolescents are very much threatened in the aspect of HIV/AIDS due to their tremendous curiosity and immaturity. So the qualitative reproductive health literacy, first and foremost, should be ensured for adolescents any how.

More than one third of all new infections – about 4600 every day – occurs among adolescents. But in changing the course of HIV/AIDS epidemic, adolescents may play a vital role. At first they have to be empowered through reproductive health literacy in light of life skill education. Then they will be able to increase awareness of the particular vulnerabilities curbing harassment, violence and sexual abuse. They may organize committed and dexterous leadership capitalizing on social mobilization.


Adolescents girls are physiologically, socially, culturally and economically more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. Sexual behavior guided by ill-believes, dogmatic social attitudes, lack of economic empowerment and equal accesses to livelihood education promote vulnerability of adolescent girls to HIV/AIDS as a whole. Gender-related social norms may diversify adolescent girls’ vulnerability to HIV/AIDS. Cultural and social factors confine their choices and opportunities to get information regarding reproductive health and how to practice safe sex.

Intending to come up with a spontaneous and effective response to HIV/AIDS, it is very much necessary to have key knowledge about reproductive health and how to confront the epidemic. According to the findings of recent research works, if prevention programs are not successful as per the desired outcome, China alone will have more than 3 million adolescents with HIV/AIDS as well as India undoubtedly will have 5 million adolescents by 2010. Only far-reaching and comprehensive program integrated by reproductive health packages can foil the spread of vulnerability to HIV/AIDS.

Promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment leads to extensive awareness maintaining linkage between sexual and reproductive health (SRH), existing social issues and HIV/AIDS. Having it in mind, adolescents should be made strengthen their voices receiving skill development training to be a successful social advocate. For that reason they will be able to arrange and conduct focus group discussion, courtyard meeting, colloquium, workshop, and in-depth interview with peer group to get their views on how to protect themselves. With the help of local level implementers, adolescents’ group can take steps collectively to understand the interplay of challenging economic and social factors that brings about vulnerability to HIV/AIDS. These kinds of study oriented initiatives have to be done in a way guided by text-curriculum under the local educational institute that would make possible to generate findings consistently. In the course of exchanging views and interaction with target community people, the adolescents having reproductive health literacy may share their exclusive findings and result of message dissemination among the local policy makers and relevant stakeholders to reduce vulnerability in the community as a whole.


Anirudha Alam
Deputy Director
(Information & Development Communication)
BEES (Bangladesh Extension Education Services)
183, Lane 2, Eastern Road, New DOHS
Mohakhali, Dhaka 1206
Bangladesh.
Website: http://www.bees-bd.org, http://www.newsletter.com.bd/anirudha

Phone: 01718342876, 9889732, 9889733 (office), 8050514 (res.)
E-mail: anirudha.alam@gmail.com, info@bees-bd.org, bees@worldnetbd.net


Ref: UNFPA, UNESCO, World Bank

Stamping out Gender Discrimination to Prevent HIV/AIDS

Stamping out Gender Discrimination
to Prevent HIV/AIDS

Anirudha Alam


Gender discrimination saps social consistency jeopardizing health and educational development. It is increasingly recognized as a key factor that makes women gravely vulnerable to AIDS and STIs (Sexually Transmitted Infections). Improving and intensifying poverty reduction strategies pragmatically, overall development programs should be en-gendered. Otherwise development achievements may be endangered failing to contain epidemic.

Approximately 17.7 million women were living with HIV/AIDS in 2006 all over the world. Multiple vulnerabilities like social, cultural, economical and biological factors intertwined as a vicious circle may make prevalence sky-high anytime among women in the developing countries of Asia. So we have to raise a clarion call on combating the spread of epidemic through ensuring gender equality.

Gender discrimination promotes unequal access to resources and opportunities, sexual violence, practice of unprotected sex, women trafficking and women’s paltry representation and participation in social development activities. All of this result in power disparities that characterize personal relationships between male and female undermine the development of not only women but also a nation to a great extent. In this context, capitalizing on capacity building initiatives for vulnerable women encompassing sensitization, training & orientation, exchanging information, experience & views and networking may play an important role to reduce the incidents of HIV as a whole.

Having significant and multifaceted impact on public health, education, technology, business and administration sector as well as on demography, household, macro economy and society on a great scale, HIV/AIDS continues to spread in Asia and the Pacific. Comprehensive HIV/AIDS prevention programs have been initiated successfully in some countries. Nonetheless several grave factors like illiteracy, gender inequality, unprotected extra marital sexual behavior, increasing use of intravenous drugs, isolation from generic health care services as well as lack of outreach treatment and care services are contributing to the spread of HIV/AIDS gradually from most-at-risk population to the general population. As a result, the number of HIV infections among women is increasing day by day. This is why focusing very appropriately and timely on the importance of women empowerment, policy makers should be made gender sensitized necessarily.

Adopting an inter-sectoral approach to gender equality and establishing links between gender, development and HIV/AIDS, vulnerable nations have to have technical supports to confront epidemic. There is no alternative to integrate gender into such major development areas as good governance, poverty alleviation, disaster management & recovery, sustainable environment promotion, information & development communication (IDC) as well as HIV/AIDS prevention.

An in-depth study entitled ‘The impact of women empowerment on HIV/AIDS prevention in Bangladesh’ conducted by BEES (Bangladesh Extension Education Services) indicates that women are mostly vulnerable to HIV/AIDS due to their inherited conservative behavior, beliefs in superstitions and religious dogmas. They are deprived of enjoying their minimal rights as well. Consequently they are affected by gender discrimination severely. A recent survey initiated by Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallayan Foundation showed that only 22% young women (15-25 years) had heard of HIV/AIDS and do not know how to protect themselves from AIDS/STIs.

HIV/AIDS epidemic is mounting all over the world especially in the developing countries being the greatest impediment to human development. Young girls and women are greatly vulnerable due to their lack of power and means to protect themselves from practice of unsafe sex and ignorance as regards reproductive health. Through a gender lens, multisectoral development strategies should be both pro-poor and pro-women supporting the integration of HIV/AIDS prevention into the development planning activities. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are intended to halve extreme poverty and hunger by 2015. So in the course of reducing poverty, promotion of gender equitable behaviors through gender awareness will be able to contribute to reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS as per the desired achievement .



Anirudha Alam
Deputy Director
(Information & Development Communication)
BEES (Bangladesh Extension Education Services)
183, Lane 2, Eastern Road, New DOHS
Mohakhali, Dhaka 1206
Bangladesh.
Website:http://www.bees-bd.org, http://www.newsletter.com.bd/anirudha

Phone:+8801718342876, +8802 9889732, +88029889733 (office), +88028050514 (res.)
E-mail: anirudha.alam@gmail.com, info@bees-bd.org, bees@worldnetbd.net

Ref: UNDP, UNESCO, World Bank

Women Empowerment, Cornerstone of HIV Prevention

Women Empowerment, Cornerstone
of HIV Prevention

Anirudha Alam

There are some forms of risky behavior that directly makes women vulnerable to HIV/AIDS in the developing countries like Bangladesh. It should be cornerstone of life to get rid of risky behavior through improving living standard any how. For the greater involvement of vulnerable women in every aspect of curbing epidemic, they have to be able to respond to the epidemic in a meaningful manner.

In a society, if women and girls are not empowered to develop life skills they are severely vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. Gender discrimination, sexual violence, women trafficking, dowry, early marriage and low levels of reproductive health literacy are considered as key factors in the spread of STIs.

A large proportion of women is infected with HIV from regular partners who were infected during paid sex. For instance, in Mumbai and Pune (in Maharashtra), 54% and 49% of sex workers, respectively, had been found to be HIV-infected in 2005. Across sub-Saharan Africa, women are more likely than men to be infected with HIV. The unfortunate fact is that vulnerability among women is mounting all over the world. Only women empowerment can contain this vulnerability.

Profound advocacy can be an important and familiar way of breaking down barriers for undermining gender discrimination and stigma. The spread of HIV/AIDS is being fueled among the women of developing countries through such risky factors as exorbitant prevalence of HIV in the neighboring countries, increased population movement both internal & external, existence of commercial sex with multiple clients, high prevalence of STIs among the commercial sex workers, unsafe sex practice through bridging population, sexual bondage, the trend of rise of HIV among injecting drug users, unprotected pre-marital sex as well as dire poverty. On the other hand, sustainable family bondage as well as integrated praxis of religious and social values make these countries less vulnerable comparatively.

According to AIDS researcher Mohammad Khairul Alam, “Women empowerment is the first step to stamp out gender discrimination and stigmatization. If we promote gender equality poverty will be reduced significantly. It is recognized that poverty helps to trigger vulnerability to HIV/AIDS. So women empowerment through development initiatives should be ensured to keep HIV/AIDS in bay. In this aspect, such promotional activities as organizing gender sensitization workshop, seminar, symposium, open discussion, popular theatre, door to door work, advocacy session and so on may play important role bringing about effective social mobilization. Thus counting on local resource mobilization and capitalizing on collective action, women empowerment program may be led by integrated approach more efficiently to undermine vulnerabilities to HIV/AIDS.”

It is estimated that more than 14,000 people are getting infected with HIV all over the world every day. Among of them, 2000 are children under 15 years mostly getting infection of HIV through mother to child transmission. So mother to child transmission (MTCT) is considered as an important issue in spreading HIV/AIDS. There is scientific evidence of likely presence of HIV virus in breast milk. Therefore gender issues comprising improved services as to maternal & child care should be ensured through the HIV/AIDS prevention program.

As per the findings of National Assessment of Situation and Responses to Opioid/Opiate use in Bangladesh (NASROB) conducted in 2001, 14% of the female heroin smokers started heroin use below 18 years of age and 38% by 18 year. 22% of the current female injectors started injecting drug by 19 years of age. BEES (Bangladesh Extension Education Services) found that 90% young girls (15-25 years) of Bangladesh are very much vulnerable to AIDS and STIs that they do not know how to take care of their reproductive and sexual health. They have no inclination or are not enough empowered to believe it necessary to seek advice on safe reproductive health as well.

Reproductive health is still a taboo in Bangladesh, particularly with adolescent girls. With very limited access to health care facilities, knowledge and education, they have no understanding about the ways of protecting themselves. But women should be empowered through developing life skills that they can have more control over their reproductive and sexual health. Consequently HIV/AIDS prevention program will sustain comprehensively attaining high watermark of success in reducing vulnerabilities to STIs.

Anirudha Alam
Deputy Director
(Information & Development Communication)
BEES (Bangladesh Extension Education Services)
183, Lane 2, Eastern Road, New DOHS
Mohakhali, Dhaka 1206
Bangladesh.
Website: http://www.newsletter.com.bd/anirudha

Phone: +8801718342876, +88029889732, +88029889733 (office), +88028050514 (res.)
E-mail: anirudha.alam@gmail.com, info@bees-bd.org, bees@worldnetbd.net

Ref: UNDP, UNESCO, World Bank

Risky Behavior Fuels Vulnerability to HIV/AIDS in Low Prevalence Country

Risky Behavior Fuels Vulnerability
to HIV/AIDS in Low Prevalence Country


Anirudha Alam


Countries like Bangladesh where spread of HIV/AIDS is relatively slow nowadays have a window of opportunity to avoid more serious epidemics. Comprehensive access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support in low prevalence countries should be ensured through strengthening integrated HIV/AIDS prevention programs and projects. In this regard, highlighting the priorities of an effective response to the epidemic, it is very much essential to take the exclusive scope to keep HIV at bay. It should be recognized that to scale up prevention, treatment, care and support is a vital right for all.

Encompassing enhanced access to inclusive treatment and prevention programs, significant developments have been found in recent years in global efforts to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic. But due to practicing risky behavior, the number of people living with HIV is increasing consecutively. Diminution of national HIV prevalence is being brought about in some sub-Saharan African countries, though this kind of trend is neither remarkable nor long-lasting satisfactorily.

If there is low prevalence of HIV in a country it does not indicate that HIV prevention is low priority. Comprehensive access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support in low prevalence countries may be promoted through developing a holistic and integrated national strategy plan with far-seeing and pragmatic targets for being achieved by 2010. To contain the spread of HIV epidemic, innovative HIV/AIDS prevention programs/projects have to be initiated complementing government efforts to orchestrate national strategic plan successfully through effective partnership as a whole.

Ensuring the involvement of civil society, NGOs, young people, religious leader as well as people living with HIV, a potential national AIDS coordinating authority comes in for maintaining profound linkages between national strategic plans and such other relevant programs as tuberculosis, sexual transmitted infection, reproductive health, general health care and so on. There is no alternative to mobilize human resources through improved management and capacity building for all aspects of HIV and AIDS prevention.

Greater availability of injectable drugs, stigma and discrimination towards people infected or affected by HIV/AIDS, women trafficking, polygamy and early marriage may trigger epidemics on a large scale. Countries with low levels of HIV infection need sufficient funding, challenging and well-defined targets, and much-admired political and cultural commitment as well as community based well-planned social mobilization to strengthen support for national HIV/AIDS prevention programs. With an effective focus on prevention , enough financial and technical support have to be ensured to implement national strategic plans increasing significant participatory involvement in program design, implementation, advocacy and monitoring & evaluation.

In the context of developing countries, drug use is mostly a hidden subculture in the urban communities. According to the findings of BEES (Bangladesh Extension Education Services), 85% young people addicted in injecting regularly are severely vulnerable to ill health, HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C in Bangladesh. Therefore a great urgency exists to ensure availability of health care services which protect young drug users from contracting blood-borne viruses all along the country. On the other hand, Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallyan Foundation estimated that HIV prevalence among adolescent girls involved in such risky behavior as using drugs is higher than 60% in urban and suburban areas of Bangladesh. They must have access to health and social care services which provide support to change their high risk behavior and reduce the vulnerability caused by transmission of HIV/AIDS.

Injecting drug use, unprotected paid sex as well as unprotected sex between men considered as the centrality of high-risk behavior are fueling the skyrocketing spread of HIV/AIDS in Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. Two in three (67%) prevalent HIV infections in 2005 were caused by drug abuse in central Asia and Eastern Europe. Near about 13% of HIV infections was due to use of non-sterile injecting drug use equipment among sex workers and their clients in the same countries. So the countries with low levels of HIV infections have to improve surveillance systems that they may better understand the factors identifying obstacles and opportunities for scaling up national HIV prevention, treatment, care and support efforts.


Anirudha Alam
Deputy Director
(Information & Development Communication)
BEES (Bangladesh Extension Education Services)
183, Lane 2, Eastern Road, New DOHS
Mohakhali, Dhaka 1206
Bangladesh.

Phone: +8801718342876, +88029889732, +88029889733 (office)
+88028050514 (res.)
Website: http://www.newsletter.com.bd/anirudha
E-mail: anirudha.alam@gmail.com,
info@bees-bd.org, bees@worldnetbd.net

Ref: UNAIDS, UNESCO, FHI