Srinivas and I are heading back to the US at the moment (waiting to board our connection in London). We have collected over 15 hours of video and audio, and nearly 2000 photographs. Over the next month, we will continue to update our Voices blog with photos, audio and video. We hope to have the final flash presentation ready by the end of September.
UPDATE: The BBC and PocketPlanetRadio links no longer lead directly to the interview. I have linked directly to the interview here.
We recorded an interview with the BBC earlier this week that is scheduled to be aired Monday, July 18 some time between 8 and 10 PM (New York time.) Here is a link to the program site. The segment appears in the second half of the show. Or you can listen to a longer version on the BBC producer’s personal website, Pocketplanetradio.com.
Indian government data pegs the number of people living with HIV/AIDS at 5 million.
Even if we assume the number is unrealistically low—the government’s methodology for data collection is roundly questioned—and triple it to 15 million as many NGOs do, the percentage is still less than two percent of its one billion plus population.
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click image for video interview
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The numbers have made prevention the priority in India rather than treatment of those already infected. But keep in mind that in absolute numbers, India has one of the world’s highest numbers of people infected with HIV behind South Africa.
Affordable and accessible treatment programs must also be an important part of the strategy to bring this epidemic under control.
Here is footage of one prevention program called ASHA (”Hope”) which provides education to young women who are considered at risk because they have little or no education and are likely to be married at a young age. Through the program, they learn about HIV/AIDS, safe sex and are provided vocational training.
The program stresses the need for peer counselors to visit people in their own communities rather than bringing them to an office.
These young women and peer counselors meet in a one-room community center in a village at the edge of Hyderabad. There are no fan and no lights–just the hot breeze and sunlight seeping in through two windows.
The women’s stories are strikingly similar: their husbands visiting commerical sex workers, became infected and passed on the virus to their unsuspecting wives.
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Slideshow: Portraits of those willing to face the glare
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The men often tell a story of denial: they don’t know how they became sick.
What the HIV+ men and women have in common is that they are afraid to reveal their status for fear of discrimination and rejection by their families.
Here are some portraits of men and women willing to face the glare–and speak up about their condition to help others. They are all part of a group called Netwok of HIV Positive People.
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click image for video interview
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Here are some excerpts of an interview with Murgesh, a 16-year-old HIV+ orphan. He is keenly aware of how ARVs are helping him survive his teenage years.
Over the past week and a half, we have photographed and interviewed people with full-blown AIDS. Some of them couldn’t even lift their heads off their pillows.
We also spent time with people who were down to their last ounce of strength but had a dramatic turnaround once they begin taking generic (and government subsidized) anti-retro viral (ARVS) drugs.
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click image for video
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The most inspiring stories and images are of the HIV+ orphans at the Freedom Foundation. Despite great odds, these kids are full of life—in huge part to their daily regime of ARVs.
But their health is hanging by a thin thread: the constant search for funding for their supply of ARVs and the inevitable that they will develop resistance to these ARVs.
This video shows children playing after school at the Freedom Foundation in Bangalore.
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click image for slideshow
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After a week of struggling to get my computer fixed (Dell’s International Service Center in INDIA does NOT provide help to people in INDIA), I have posted some images from our first day in Hyderabad.
I will be adding some video this evening (India time).
The photographs depict the way, in India, Tuberculosis is the most lethal opportunistic infection preying on those weakened by AIDS.
