Former Prime Minister of India - Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee

PM's inaugural speech at National Convention of Elected Representatives on HIV/AIDS

~An important issue has brought all of us together today. An issue which, in a span of less than three decades, has emerged globally as the single most formidable challenge to public health, human rights and development in the new century.

But HIV/AIDS is not only a grave global challenge. It is equally a national concern, one that demands effective and undelayed response. The epidemic has taught us several lessons so far. One of them is that, for the response to be effective, it has to be collective and well-coordinated. It must spring forth from a solid partnership between all sections of society including the political establishment. Recent years have seen a steadily rising level of awareness and action among elected representatives on the issue of HIV/AIDS. The formation of the Parliamentary Forum is a proof of this.

Globally, over forty million men, women and children are infected with HIV / AIDS. At the end of 2001, the newly infected adults and children across Asia and Pacific brought the total numbers of people living with HIV / AIDS in this region to over 7 million. We are particularly concerned that, of these, India has over 4 million men, women and children living with the virus. In Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Manipur and Nagaland, HIV prevalence has reached over 1 percent among women attending antenatal clinics.

The good news is India has both the window of opportunity and the competence to accelerate comprehensive prevention programmes. The unstinted political support across the board for meeting effectively the challenges posed by HIV/AIDS has been amply reported through the years. In 1992, we set up the National AIDS Control Organisation as an autonomous structure within Ministry of Health & Family Welfare to develop policies and programmes that would promote focussed public action to address the problem.

In the past five years, several national and international conferences on HIV/AIDS have been held in India, highlighting different facets of the challenge and the necessary responses to them. The formation of the Parliamentary Forum on AIDS is one of the constructive outcomes of these deliberations. I congratulate my colleagues in Parliament and the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare as well as NACO for this initiative.

In India, issues pertaining to public health do not normally find a place on the Nation’s political agenda. This is not so in other democracies where, sometimes, even elections are won or lost on the basis of health issues. It is obvious that political parties in our country need to pay far greater attention to issues of healthcare than they do now.

As a matter of fact, even today other entrenched challenges in the health sector – such as diseases due to malnutrition, lack of clean drinking water, poor sanitation conditions and environmental degradation – do not attract as much attention of the political establishment as HIV/AIDS. Therefore, the growing Parliamentary activism on HIV/AIDS is welcome for an additional reason. It not only helps the fight against the epidemic itself, but, hopefully, will also make our elected representatives more sensitive to other public health challenges.

We must, of course, recognize that the fight against HIV/AIDS is more complex and requires greater courage and commitment. It requires leadership that is ready to go to the heart of the problem and is ready even to go against the stream of public opinion. Hence, globally, in each country and in each community, responding to AIDS is one of the most significant leadership challenges of our time. In localized ways, such leadership has indeed been provided by medical professionals, administrators, captains of business, popular artists, NGOs and even religious leaders. Some Chief Ministers have shown exemplary initiative. I commend such dedicated individuals and organizations. There is a need to better document and more effectively publicise their efforts.

While we have been able to generate strong political will to combat HIV/AIDS, we need to carry this message from national and state levels to district and village levels through the active involvement of elected representatives. I believe that the Parliamentary Forum and the National Convention will address this issue in the Declaration of Commitment later today.

We need to become open regarding the state of the epidemic in the country. All the countries that have succeeded in reversing the trend of the epidemic have been open about their epidemic. We need also to demonstrate this openness and a complete absence of prejudice towards affected persons. Every elected representative must be fully acquainted with the spread and prevalence of HIV in his or her constituency and should demand to know what is being done about it. Elected representatives like you can personally lead awareness campaigns and give it visibility. This will bring about openness to discuss what may otherwise be perceived as a difficult topic.

Experience of AIDS control in other countries has shown that education is crucial to the success of the struggle against this epidemic. Only education can empower young people with the knowledge they need to protect themselves and their communities. Only education can combat the problem of stigma and discrimination.

Dear Parliamentarians, the problem of HIV/AIDS is daunting. There is no doubt about it. We should not underestimate its gravity. At the same time, we must also know that our country is capable of managing any challenge if we put our heart to it. Our response to the epidemic has been somewhat belated. But it is gaining in strength with each passing month. Besides, we should remember the words of the wise man, who said, ~The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is now~.

Thank you~.