Faced with rising cases of AIDS among the jawans [soldiers], Indian Border Security Force plans to act firmly
Kreeit Jotla
Aug. 28, 2005

Indian Border Security Force has accepted a grim fact and is ready to act fast on it. BSF personnel are getting infected with HIV/AIDS in a considerable number.

According to media sources, Concerned over rising number of HIV positive and AIDS cases among its personnel, India's Border Security Force (BSF) has drawn up comprehensive measures, including a "methodical tie-up" with the UNAIDS, to check spread of the disease. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) New Delhi office said they are concerned at the rising number of AIDS/ HIV positive cases in BSF and decided to establish a Centre of Excellence on HIV and AIDS.

BSF Director-General R.S. Mooshahary said the force had entered into an agreement with UNAIDS to effectively manage and fight the increasing HIV-positive and AIDS cases. "We have entered into an arrangement of methodical tie-up with UNAIDS to increase preventive measures," he told PTI. "Basically, the programme will focus on increasing the awareness and counselling among the jawans [soldiers]."

Asked about the reports of over 70 BSF jawans tested HIV-positive all over the country, Mooshahary said "the number of affected personnel is very low comparing to other security forces." He said the situation was not "alarming". Under the partnership agreement, UNAIDS will assist the BSF with designing and implementing a comprehensive HIV-prevention programme among the BSF ranks.

The programme will include awareness-raising initiatives, peer education training and the integration of HIV/AIDS/STI (sexually transmitted infections)-related topics into the curricula of BSF training institutes throughout the country. "It will also help enhance the capacities of BSF health professionals to effectively manage and deliver high-quality care as well as support efforts to decrease stigma and discrimination surrounding military personnel living with HIV," said Mettine Dve of UNAIDS, New Delhi.

Earlier in April this year, India's Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and director of UNAIDS had announced the signing of a "partnership agreement" to check increasing cases of HIV and AIDS among military personnel. "The BSF is the first paramilitary force to launch an enhanced awareness of HIV/AIDS prevention programme and we are trying to educate our jawans against the social stigmas as they are afraid to sleep with the affected jawans in the same room. They are even apprehensive of travelling in the same bus and having food in the same dinning hall with the AIDS/HIV affected personnel," Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of BSF Dr N. Mishra said.

He said border areas of Bangladesh, some areas of west Indian state of Maharastra and the coastal areas of south Indian state Andhra Pradesh have a high rate of affected personnel comparing to other parts of the country. A 36-year-old BSF jawan posted at Pulwama in the north Indian state Jammu and Kashmir reportedly died of AIDS at SKIMS hospital. According to Mettine Dve, uniformed services are particularly vulnerable to HIV infection due to a number of factors, among them the young age of military personnel and lengthy periods they stay away from home, which can result in the purchasing of sex.

Faced with rising cases of AIDS among the jawans [soldiers], Indian Border Security Force plans to act firmly
Kreeit Jotla
Indian Border Security Force has accepted...
READ MORE>>

MORE ARTICLES >>