International AIDS Candlelight:
- It's relevance in Manipur -

S. Neken Singh *

A mysterious disease swept the gay population in San Francisco in the United States in the early 1980s. Amid confusion and misconception about the disease, many young people had died unaware. In 1983, four young men – Bobbi Campbell, Bobby Reynolds, Dan Turner and Mark Feldman – knowing they would die within a year, decided to put a face against the disease by putting a banner reading "Fighting For Our Lives."

Thus the International AIDS Candlelight Memorial observance began 25 years ago. On the third Sunday of May every year, people around the world light candles to honor those who have died of AIDS and to mobilise the civil society for a collective movement against the disease.

"Never give up. Never forget" is the theme for this year's edition of International AIDS Candlelight Memorial which falls on 18th May 2008. The theme reminds us that we must learn from the past and never give up our collective movement in fighting the AIDS epidemic.

25th International AIDS Candle Lighting celebrated at Kangla hall Imphal on May 18 2008

Situational analysis of HIV/AIDS in Manipur:

Manipur with a small land area of 22,327 sq km have 358 km long International border with Myanmar. It's proximity to the 'Golden Triangle' has fated the state to become an alternative route for illegal international drug (heroin) trafficking and subsequently a drug user state in the nineteen eighties.

Routine screening for HIV started in the state from 1986 and the first case of HIV infection was reported from among the Injecting Drug Users (IDU) in 1990. At present, the estimated IDU population of the state is between 35000 and 40000. By 1997, the prevalence of HIV among IDUs reached 76.9%. Now, the rate has come down to below 20%.

Sadly, from IDUs, the virus has gone down to the general population through sex. The concentration of the epidemic shifts from men to women, from urban to rural, from valley to hills and so on. HIV prevalence rate among the women attending ante-natal clinics stands at 14 per 1000, which is high enough to term the state as a High Prevalence State in the country. Manipur gets the distinction of being one of the highest HIV prevalent states of India.

Apart from IDUs and commercial sex workers, MSM (Men having sex with men) community in Manipur has become a major concern. The sexual behaviours of this group of people are dangerous as far as the HIV spread is concerned. Last years surveillance data indicated 15.6 percent HIV infection among the MSM in Manipur. This is also a neglected area where we need to focus.

The MSM need to be given social recognition and their creativity is to be counted as a treasure of the society. They need to be empowered and educated so as to be able to defend themselves from HIV infections and STDs. The social recognition of the Homosexuals and their creative excellence in various fields need to be the main agenda in formulating specific HIV/AIDS programmes and projects for them.

The third gender people like MSM need empowerment, education and recognition so that they meet the mental and physical harassments of sexually active young people, security personnel etc. Their talents may also be utilized to make them involved in AIDS control programmes.

Major issue in Manipur is the cross border sexual activities in addition to drug trafficking and drug abuse. Myanmarese sex workers frequent the border villages of Manipur and vice-versa which leads to rampant increase in HIV spread from across the border.

Unhealthy nexus - youth, sex, drugs and AIDS:

Indulgence in Pre-marital and extra-marital sexual activities, drug abuse, lack of awareness, lack of health seeking behaviour etc. all contribute to the burgeoning menace of HIV/AIDS in Manipur.

The influence of various media, ignorance of safe sex practices, peer pressures etc. among the youths make them victims of immature sexual activity. Exposure to sexually explicit music and dance is a factor that increases practice of premarital sex. Another reason for increased premarital sex is the long period between sexual maturation in young people and their marital sex life. To many young boys and girls today, sex seems to be inevitable for an intimate love relation.

We have heard reports of immoral activities among young boys and girls in restaurants. Anybody can presume what kind of immorality goes on inside the dark cabins of restaurants. Such socially undesirable behaviour of young people not only leads to wastage of highly creative youthful talents and energies but also provides the fertile condition for spreading HIV/AIDS in the society.

People at large hate the drug users. They scold them and ostracise them from social activities. They try to isolate them from friends and relatives. They are seen as criminals. No one thinks about the real causes of his misbehaviour. Instead of creating a supportive and enabling environment to relieve him from misbehaviour, the society rejects, stigmatises and discriminates him for his acts. Here, I would like to blame the society for its lack of social maturity and lack of knowledge.

Drug abuse is a disease and it cannot be solved overnight. The police model of arresting and harassing of drug users was proved futile in Manipur. The drug abuse cannot be prevented and controlled by the total abstinence theory also. Therefore, the harm reduction measures are adopted for treatment of drug users and have proved fruitful in Manipur.

Lack of proper education, economic problems and political chaos, insurgent movements etc. are indirectly helping in the aggravation of the drugs problem in Manipur.

Never forget – past omissions and commissions.

Law of Karma says that the ugly situation we are facing today is the result of what we did or what we missed to do in our past. So, if we do something good today, our tomorrow will reap the fruits. In this line, we may conclude that our past omissions and commissions in life have brought out such a situation of HIV/AIDS in Manipur as we should never forget and we should never repeat.

Who are to blame for the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS in Manipur by the 1990s? We cannot blame the drug users, we cannot blame the sex workers. There are various reasons and circumstances which make a person to be IDU or sex worker. Neither HIV nor AIDS has any link to the psyche of IDU or sex workers.

The only sadness is that the ignorant and careless practices and behaviour of a drug user or a sex worker or an MSM facilitate HIV transmission from a person to another. Many IDUs who are HIV positive today, who have died of AIDS did not aware about HIV and AIDS by the time they acquired the virus. It is only IGNORANCE and CARELESSNESS we have to blame.

Manipur has become a hotbed of HIV epidemic – only because of ignorance and negligence we have had during the last two decades.

Never give up – task ahead for educating the children and youths.

Now we are all prepared to fight against HIV and AIDS. We have identified our enemy, we have recognized who the virus is, what it can do and what it cannot do, its strategies against human beings. So, mankind has little difficulty in challenging HIV/AIDS. Two strategies are on the cards – firefighting measures for controlling the already affected society and long term durable mitigation of the menace among the next generation.

As for control of the epidemic in this part of the country, we have governmental and non-governmental services covering almost all parts of the state. My focus as of now is to advocate a long term and durable mitigating strategy, that is Life Skills education for children and youths.

Saving the uninfected youth and children lot should be the main concern for all in the present generation. Children and young people should be given adequate moral education at the family level, school level and the community level. Life skills that are necessary for a successful social life are to be taught to the children in their formative period so that they can face the emergent feelings and experiences in life.

Teaching the children 'what ought to do and what ought not to do' is a must. Peer pressure can also be protected by strengthening self-knowledge of youths. Self-knowledge will lead to self-respect and self-confidence.

Today, most young boys and girls cannot identify between films and reality. The entertainment and real life situations should be kept separate in the minds of our youths. We have to explore various means to face the media invasion of the present information technology age.

The young people should be educated with accurate and full information about sex and sexuality so that they can decide for themselves- what is moral and what is immoral. A frank and explicit discussion on sexual health education without hesitation and embarrassment is required to meet the emerging challenges in the society.

Misconceptions during adolescence period regarding sexual matters are to be clarified with sex education. They are to be convinced that 'love and affection' can be without sex. Love without sex promotes healthy communication between lovers, reduces risk of HIV/AIDS/STDs and immature pregnancy. Moreover, there is trust and respect for each other.

In traditional societies, religion had been a successful tool for mass control. Unity, peace, harmony, happiness and good life are common aspects of all religions. Apart from religion, meditation is also a useful practice for control of mind and differentiation between the good and the bad or the useful and the harmful.

In our experience, most people are afraid of God. So, God can be a solution for social evils. Children should be taught the values of life, what God allows and what God does not allow. They will automatically follow the things God allows them to do. In this way, the many social problems can be solved.

Filling the Generation gap may be one useful method of imbibing moral values in the young population. In traditional joint families, all members could share their experiences in life and find a better chance to judge what was good or what was bad. The younger generation could learn a lot from the elders.

But such institution of joint family has been replaced by system of nuclear family where the scope of a family is reduced to 'parent and a few children' only. The question now is 'where from the children learn the knowledge, intelligence, and moral lessons'. The answer is that in the present society, teachers, parents, counsellors, NGOs etc. have to fill the gap by imbibing moral values in the children.

Every school should enable children and adolescents at all levels to learn critical health and life skills - comprehensive, integrated life skills education that can enable young people to make healthy choices and adopt healthy behaviour throughout their lives. In fact it will raise students' confidence levels and improve morality in social life.

Candlelight memorial observance and its relevance:

Candlelight memorial is not a mere observance, but an opportunity for us to remind the society what wrongs we have committed and in what way we need to correct them. As the theme indicates, we should not forget what we have committed and we should not give up our efforts to make corrections in future.

On candlelight day, people around the world light candles to mark an honour for the unintended deaths, and also to take the opportunity to unite against HIV/AIDS. Let the candles also light up our minds and show the path to a healthy living.

We always remember those innocent colleagues of ours who have fallen victims of HIV/AIDS. They were infected either out of ignorance or due to negligence. However, it is no crime worth the price they get. They are not meant to die immature and in their youthful days.

We on earth mourn the deaths every moment, every hour, every day and every year. But, mere mourning or mere observances will not do. We have to act today for the generations to come so that they are bereft of such an aweful disaster.

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* S. Neken Singh wrote this article for The Sangai Express. This article was webcasted on July 02, 2008.

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