:: no Apologies, HIV/AIDS Prevention ::

· Main source of HIV transmission is heterosexual contact. Use of infected needles is next.
· About 90% of the total reported AIDS cases occur in the sexually active and economically productive 15 to 44 age group.
· A mere 0.1 percent increase in the prevalence rate would increase the number of adults with AIDS in India by over half a million.
(The HINDU, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2002)
Misconceptions:
· "If a woman has sex with only one man, she won't get AIDS, right?"
· Another 13 year old… "My uncle dies of AIDS. Mu aunt got it from him because she used to eat the same food and sat next to him. A small boy once ate in his plate and my parents say he too will contract AIDS."
("NGO effort takes up taboo topics in schools" THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS, Sept. 24, 2003)

"Nearly 450 personnel among the 40,000-strong Mumbai police force are infected by HIV, a top police official said on Thursday. Sources within the police department claim that the rising figure of HIV cases in the force was more to do with the lavish lifestyle of the cops and susceptibility of prostitution."
("More than 450 Mumbai cops are HIV positive" THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS BANGALORE Jan. 8)

Drunken Driving
National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) study of road accident victims:
· 21 % of road accidents deaths in Bangalore are alcohol related
· 90 % of the deaths involved people who had consumed alcohol three hours before injury.
· The main culprits are young 18 - 35 year old motorcycle riders. Middle aged motor cycle riders, young car drivers, bus and truck drivers are also often guilty of drunken driving accidents.
· Random testing showed 40 % of night time drivers were under the influence of alcohol.
· 35 % of those tested had alcohol levels above the legal limit.
· 99 % knew it was dangerous to drink and drive. 95 % knew it was illegal.
· 28 % of accidents among males in the night in the 15 - 59 age group was related to alcohol.
("Drunk Driving: An accident waiting to happen" THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS, Bangalore Dec. 9, 2002)

DRUG ABUSE:
· this one-of-a-kind report on India - Drug Abuse Monitoring Systems: A Profile of Treatment Seekers - compiled by th3e United Nations Office on Drug and Crime states that in Delhi 44.7 per cent of treatment seekers were heroin addicts while alcohol accounted for 26.4 per cent.
("Drug abusers on the rise in cities: report" THE HINDU, New Delhi, Jan 4, 2002)

SEXUAL HARASSMENT:
A new publication by the Panos Institute, London, titled "Beyond victims and villains: addressing sexual violence in the education sector." Throws up some interesting information and insight on this issue (the document is available on www.panos.org.uk).
· It quotes a 1997 survey of 200 women college and university students in Mumbai that found that " 39 % complained of harassment, including verbal comments, lewd songs, and harassment through phone calls and staring at women's breasts, particularly in canteens and at the entrance gate."
· In another survey in 1996 by the Gender Study Group of Delhi University, an astonishing 91.7 per cent of over 100 women students living in hostels said that they faced harassment on the campus almost every day, mostly from men who were not from the university. But they also faced harassment from male students and faculty members. One girl student is reported saying, "I feel angry and humiliated. Often I get worked up just trying to figure out why the hell are men such imbeciles! Why the hell do we have to take all this? Why can't I do something more?"
("Must boys tease girls?", THE HINDU, Sunday, June 15, 2003)

One final article. I'm not sure if this was in THE HINDU or THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS but the date was April 21, 2003 titled "Clues to human genetics structure found in ancient Indian texts" by Manoj K. Das & Binu Karunakaran
· Pumsavana Karma is the ancient art of sex selection and healthy conception mentioned in medical texts written by ancient doctors Charaka (2nd Century BC)… The texts mention plant formulation to be taken in the third month of pregnancy when manifestation of sex in the foetus takes place… all plant formulations… should be boiled in milk and given to the pregnant woman to drink. This should only be during the astrological constellation of Puahyanakshatram, or under the timing of this particular star, which occurs every 27 days. Furthermore, butter made from this concoction is to be burnt into ghee and instilled into the right nostril for a boy or the left nostril for a girl, again under the pushyanakshatram star. The right nostril this appears to determine the X chromosome needed for a male foetus and the Y chromosome for the female child in the left nostril… Dr. Racindran, chief physician of the Coimbatore Arya Vaidya Pharmacy, adds that proper following of Ayurvedic practices during pregnancy would insure the birth of a healthy child. "But on one follows the texts now. Ayurvedic pre-natal therapies insulate the foetus from developing any genetic disorders. India knew everything about the book of life even before the West thought of it," points out Ravindran, physician of former president K.R. Narayanan.