Dashain With A Meaning

By Prem N. Kakkar

DASHAIN comes every year with its message of the victory of the good over the evil. Yes, it's true. In the end the evil ones are defeated. But the only problem is that it takes many years before justice arrives. Long years the people have waited for an end to corruption and party politics quite indifferent to the sentiments of the people.

Long speeches does not mean much unless it leads to the solution of the people's problems and the mitigation of the miseries. Learning the Vedas or the Gita by heart does not make a wise person unless the inner meaning is understood and practised. But there is long distance between the cup of tea and the mouth. Maybe that's the reason why we are able to utter so much but accomplish so little.

Known the world over for valour and as peaceful people, Dashain is the time to vent out one's feelings. Though poor, dignity still remains. A few bad ones cannot spoil the show as they can be thrown out. So, during this Dashain, despite all the difficulties, rays of hope have emerged.

People's pleas in the past had gone unheard but now they have been answered to some extent. Mahishashurs have terrorised mankind many times in the past but they all had to fall one day or the other. The devil lurking in the heart must be wiped out if the significance of Dashain is really to be understood.

Politics is a way of life. It's pervasive whether in the home or the society. But it however does not mean that it has to be dirty all the time. It can be cleaned with the detergent of sincerity and loyalty to the right beliefs, norms and values.

The stomach may be empty or that chayngras have not been bought or that the prices of vegetables have skyrocketed but they do not mean that integrity has been lost. Morality still exists if we have the heart to search within ourselves. There is no time to lose heart. If ashes could act as salt for a while, there is no reason why we cannot reach our goal. Democracy is here. We have Constitutional Monarchy. We're not lacking in anything but only a will to act for our own good. Sometimes a saviour is needed. That's true. Lord Krishna, Lord Rama, Buddha, Jesus Christ, Mohammed. We were the ones who showed the right path at the time when it was necessary.

We've been chanting the name of Goddess Durga, specially during the festival of Dashain, but it must be with conviction. For victory can be gained only through the right conviction. That's what our religion teaches us. And that's what we must practice for our own good and prosperity.

Life is a look ahead game. There's no looking back. That is what makes human life so different from any of the other creatures on earth. If we only on the deficiencies then nothing can materialise. An ailment has to be cured and not just complain about it all the time. After all it has been over twelve years that we've had the democratic polity. It had and has to be made stronger. That's the way it should go.

And Dashain is here for us to be blessed by Goddess Durga for more strength so that we can work more wholeheartedly and sincerely not only for us but for the people as well.

HIV/AIDS
Psychosocial Care Needed

By Uttam Maharjan

AIDS is one of the major health problems besetting the entire world, be it developed, developing or underdeveloped. AIDS, which stands for acquired immune deficiency syndrome, is an immunity-related disease that vitiates the sufferer's immunity, thus making him/her vulnerable to any kind of disease. The sufferer gradually loses imumunity to infections and ultimately dies. Although some anti-AIDS medicines like zidovudine have been invented, an effective medicine has yet to be developed. These medicines only enable AIDS victims to live on borrowed time as their lives are already numbered.

Speed

AIDS is believed to have first transmitted to man through a green monkey in Africa in the early 1980s. But today, it is believed that AIDS is not transmitted to man by animals. That is why, the zoonotic connotation that might have been attached to this disease in the early days does not hold water now.
Africa has the highest number is AIDS victims in the world. But whatever the origin and source of AIDS, the disease has not just been endemic or epidemic but pandemic.

One of the worst facets of AIDS seem to be the fact that the HIV (human immuno-deficiency virus) can stay in the human body for a very long time without affecting its host. As such, the incubation period of the disease is very long. This has made its treatment difficult.

During the 1980-2000 decades, AIDS killed 17.7 million people, including 7.7 million women and 3.8 million children and orphaned 3.2 million children. In Nepal, about 2,500 people are believed to be living with HIV/AIDS. As per the data brought out in July by the National Centre for AIDS and STD control, 2,440 people are sero-positive, out of which 90 per cent belong to the 14-39 age group.
The data show that women are more vulnerable to AIDs than men. The sub-groups of AIDS victims as recorded in the data are prostitutes (455), whoremongers (1,521), housewives (154), blood recipients (4), needle-sharing mainliners (280) and children catching AIDS from their parents (26). As per the Centre, about 600 AIDS victims of both sexes have died so far.

On the other hand, the data provided by various NGOs and INGOs put the number of AIDs victims in Nepal at 40,000, whereas UN statistics paint an even more horrendous picture: AIDS victims have reached 58,000 and they are growing by 30 every day.

AIDS is a communicable diseases. It is transmitted from one person to another though certain body fluide like blood, semen and vaginal sap. So it is mostly transmitted through unsafe sex with AIDS victims and sharing of HIV-tainted syringes used by mainliners. Two sero-positive groups-sex workers and mainliners-are major sources of the spread of AIDS. Similarly, a person can catch AIDS if he receives blood from an AIDS donor.

The disturbing part of AIDS is that one may transmit this disease not only to one's spouse but also to one's babies. Thus infidelity on the part of a husband or wife may victims his or her spouse and children, too.

AIDS has attacked youths more than any other groups. Youths are considered the prime movers is society. So, when the youths fall into the pitfalls of AIDs, a country will have to abnegate a large chunk of youth energy and vision that could otherwise been used in development activities. Nepal is already a cash-strapped country. And the incidence of AIDS has entailed spending additional amounts of the budget on the prevention and treatment of the disease. If the disease continues to affect the youths in the days to come, the country will have to pay a heavy price.

Controlling AIDS is, therefore, of paramount importance. Some preventative measures like sexual abstinence, avoidance of promiscuous and multi-partner sex, safe sex with the use of condoms and the like have been promoted. But as long as there is no behavioural change in sexually sensitive people such measures will no longer work. This obviously predicates the need of sex education. But in our society, where even talking about sex is taboo, sex education will not be effective until there is public awareness. Therefore, public awareness is a key to promoting sex education, which, in turn, will play a pivotal role in containing the scourge of AIDS.

It is now imperative to convince people to talk openly about AIDS even in closed societies like ours. It is encouraging to note that in recent times much media hype has been accorded to the prevention of AIDS. However, it is important to assess whether such hype has realy contributed to the prevention of the disease by persuading people to change their sexual behaviour and to abstain from drugs. It may be noted that it is equally important to control drug abuse. Mainliners infected with the HIV may transmit AIDS among themselves.

AIDS has not only medical but also psychosocial dimensions. AIDS victims are excruciatingly humiliated by society. They are treated as if they were the scourging of society. They are, in a sense, obstracised by society. So AIDS victims have to suffer physical debilitation and social stigmatization.
The role of religious institutions in inculcating in people the importance of de-stigmatising AIDS victims cannot be over-emphasised. Such a role will create an environment where in AIDS victims will gain social recognition, making it comfortable for them to socialise with their social fellows. Medical care gives them physical comfort but they need spiritual and psychosocial care to adjust themselves in society.

The role of treatment and rehabilitation centres is always there. Recognising the gravity of the disease, it will be judicious to integrate the treatment of AIDS into the primary health care programme. This will make the treatment of the disease more effective and diversified so that more and more victims can have access to treatment both in rural and urban areas.

Prominence

Care and support programmes assmue great prominence.This fact is borne out by WHO's Global Programme of Action which states that care and support programme for people living with HIV/AIDS should be comprehensive and embrace psychological, spiritual, social and medical dimensions.