Former Prime Minister of India - Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee

PM's Speech on Policy Makers Conference on HIV/AIDS

The Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee inaugurated International Policy Makers Conference on HIV/AIDS: Towards a World Without AIDS here today. The Prime Minister also announced the launch of a Parliamentary Forum on AIDS control. Apart from delegates from all over the world, Leader of Opposition, Smt. Sonia Gandhi, Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare Shri C.P. Thakur, Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka and many members of Parliament were present on the occasion.

The following is the speech of the Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee on the occasion of the Parliamentary Meet on HIV/AIDS here today:

~I am pleased to be with all of you this morning at this Parliamentary Meet on HIV/AIDS. I congratulate the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, ICMR, and NACO for organizing this important conference in India.

The history of mankind is, in many ways, a history of its struggle against death and disease. There are many indicators to the progress made by the human race down the centuries. Perhaps the most telling among them are successes of science and technology in man’s battle against dreaded diseases.

Many pestilences that claimed tens of thousands of lives in the past are merely names in medical books today. Most countries have seen a steep fall in their earlier high rates of infant mortality and maternal mortality. Life expectancy is rising in most parts of the world.

Just when mankind was getting ready to declare its triumph over infectious diseases, it is paradoxical that a new infectious disease should have surfaced in the last two decades. HIV/AIDS is a disease that has the potential to become an epidemic with catastrophic social and economic consequences. Indeed, it has already become one in several countries and threatens to do so in many others, unless its spread is quickly arrested.

In the past, epidemics generally tended to be local both in their reach and in their lethal impact. In contrast, no continent, no country, and no community have escaped the vicious trail of the AIDS virus. Thus, HIV/AIDS can be called the first epidemic in the era of globalization. What was once troubling the industrialized world is now spreading rapidly in developing countries. More than 95 percent of the newly-infected people are in Sub Saharan Africa, South Asia, and South East Asia.

Which is why, this global challenge calls for an effective global response. No country, however mighty economically and advanced technologically, can liberate itself fully from HIV/AIDS unless the entire human race can be so liberated.

Experience has shown that the best way to respond to this challenge is ~to act locally and to collaborate globally~. It is heartening to know that in the past decade, the expansion of the national programmes against HIV/AIDS has been matched by the growth in international collaboration in this field.

It has been two decades since HIV/AIDS attacked the world. So far, success in developing a vaccine against this virus has eluded us. After extensive research, rich countries have found ways to extend the lives of those infected by the virus through a combination of anti-retroviral drugs. But even common people in rich countries cannot afford these drugs. Most infected people in poor and developing countries cannot even think of buying these drugs.

Even after removing all excise duties on them — and our Government has done so in the recent budget — such multi-drug therapy will still cost between twelve hundred to twenty thousand rupees a month. Moreover, it is an expense the patient has to bear indefinitely.

Therefore, the only solution is to develop a vaccine to prevent the infection. AIDS control urgently calls for new and innovative approaches to develop effective vaccines, diagnostics, and drugs by using, among other things, the modern tools of biotechnology. The latest technological breakthroughs in genomics and related areas have given new confidence to the scientific community.

Early and correct diagnosis of HIV is critical for its subsequent control and management. I am happy that in India we have launched major initiatives, through our concerted focus on biotechnology research, to develop HIV diagnostic kits. Two of them are already in the market and are doing well both in India and in many other countries. We are willing to collaborate with other countries and to share these technologies with them.

I, therefore, heartily commend the joint efforts of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, ICMR, NACO, and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative in speeding up the development and distribution of a preventable AIDS vaccine.

The international research so far, has been focused on the ~B~ sub-type of the HIV virus, which is prevalent in the United States and Thailand, where this research is taking place. In India, as most of you know, the ~C~ sub-type is prevalent. Therefore, we need a ~C~ sub-type vaccine as quickly as all of you can develop it.

We have many laboratories, both under the Indian Council for Medical Research and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, which can supplement the work being done overseas. Our research strengths, particularly in Indian systems of medicine like Ayurveda, can also be used to support your research.

For all of us in India, controlling the spread of HIV/AIDS and taking good care of its victims has become an urgent national task. I am concerned at the rapid rise in the number of people affected by HIV/AIDS in our country. It is a concern that is shared equally by the Central and State Governments, as also by all political parties.

On my part, in December 1998 I had convened a meeting in this same hall with Members of Parliament to sensitize them on this issue. Last year, we had a useful meeting of the Chief Ministers of the six states in which this disease is most prevalent. I commend the Chief Ministers of these and other States for their efforts and acknowledge their contribution to making AIDS control a national priority.

I am happy that the Indian business community is beginning to realize its responsibility in contributing its mite to the war on HIV/AIDS. We had two useful meetings with prominent businessmen and they have taken upon themselves specific tasks to spread AIDS awareness.

I believe that years of information, education, and communication programmes run by NACO, State Governments, and NGOs have made some positive impact. Many people, both in urban and rural areas, have now become aware of HIV/AIDS and the dangers of unprotected sex and infected needles.

However, much more needs to be done. We need to reach out to the illiterate and to those who are most vulnerable to AIDS infection. In this, our States should learn the right lessons from one another and also from other countries on what works and what does not. We should especially emphasize that AIDS control is not only about safe sex and use of condoms. It is also about making necessary changes in one’s lifestyle so that one is responsible and caring to oneself, to one’s family, and to the community at large.

To effect such positive changes in attitude and behavior, we should also mobilize indigenous Indian sources of moral authority. Which means that religious and social leaders should become far more active in the AIDS control campaign than has been the case so far. We should also activate trade unionists, school and college teachers, and, if necessary, the humble postman to carry the message of prevention being the only cure, at least so far.

This conference has been specially convened to launch a Parliamentary Forum on AIDS control. Some Members of our Parliament have already taken the lead in running AIDS awareness programmes in their constituencies and in their States. For this, they are even committing resources from the yearly constituency development fund available to them.

I would like to make a special mention of a highly visible citywide campaign launched by our young Member of Parliament, Shri Kirit Somiya in Mumbai. I also recognize Shri Kapil Sibal, at whose initiative this conference is being held, and Shri Oscar Fernandes, who has shown much dedication in promoting the cause of AIDS control. Their examples deserve to be emulated by other MPs.

The Parliamentary Forum that will be launched today should reach out to all MPs, and through them, to Legislators in State Assemblies and members of Panchayati Raj Institutions. As a first step, I suggest that your Forum convenes a meeting of the MPs from the six most affected states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Manipur, and Nagaland, even before the present session of Parliament ends next week to brief them about this conference. I also suggest that the Parliamentary Forum, all the NGOs active in this field, and NACO should work together to achieve better results.

Before I conclude, I must applaud the Positive Women’s Network and similar groups of HIV-positive sisters and brothers for their courage and their dedication to the cause of creating mass awareness about this national mission. One of their representatives will speak after me and propose a vote of thanks. Indeed, all of us should thank her and her colleagues.

Until we have an effective vaccine, prevention through awareness is the only antidote we have against HIV/AIDS. But the first step to being aware is to be compassionate. Awareness demands the shedding of all types of prejudice and enabling the affected persons to live a normal life free of stigma and full of joy that is as much their due as everybody’s.

With these words, I wish you all the best in your deliberations.

Thank you~.