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All rights reserved. en-US http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/Colombo2007/currentNew.aspx?new=962 Zofeen T Ebrahim In just one stroke, and in less than half-a-minute, Sri Lanka’s minister for health care and nutrition, Nimal Siripala de Silva, wiped clean all that the AIDS champions had been advocating for at the 8th ICAAP here this week -- with what critics called his irresponsible and most awkward statements. http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/Colombo2007/currentNew.aspx?new=961 Suvendrini Kakuchi For Padma, a sociology graduate from a Sri Lankan university, the three-day International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) that ended Thursday was nothing short of an enlightening experience in her life. http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/Colombo2007/currentNew.aspx?new=960 Suvendrini Kakuchi Asia’s complacency on HIV and AIDS, given the low prevalence rates in most countries, poses a serious threat to the region’s economic development, warned experts at an ICAAP symposium on the issue. http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/Colombo2007/currentNew.aspx?new=957 Sam Rith The police and military may be more used to fighting wars than HIV and AIDS, but risk behaviour among their ranks is also common and must be addressed firmly by their leaders, according to military leaders and experts at an AIDS congress here. http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/Colombo2007/currentNew.aspx?new=956 Karen Yap Lih Huey Overcrowded prisons in South Asia are a weak link in the prevention of HIV and AIDS, due to financial strain and the lack of skilled human resources in governments in this region, says an expert. http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/Colombo2007/currentNew.aspx?new=954 The word ‘goal’ seems to be more easily achieved these days by street children in Indonesia, who make use of soccer to raise public awareness on HIV and AIDS. http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/Colombo2007/currentNew.aspx?new=953 Zofeen T Ebrahim “Have you ever gotten yourself tested? For if you did, you would know what it is for an infected person to go through the grill. Do you know the virus well? No, not how to organise seminars around it, but really know about it to be able to get the right messages across to your people -- people who are your voters, including IDUs, MSM, the CSWs,” Dr Leonard Okello, thematic head of HIV/AIDS for ActionAid International, asked of parliamentarians sitting smugly on the podium at a session here. http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/Colombo2007/currentNew.aspx?new=949 Richel Langit-Dursin "From the island of paradise, we are going to the island of the gods," declared Zubairi Djoerban, chair of the steering committee of the next – and 9th -- International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP). http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/Colombo2007/currentNew.aspx?new=944 Richel Langit-Dursin A Chinese medical doctor called on parents living with HIV to reveal their HIV status to their children to help these youngsters cope better with psychological and emotional problems that stem from being affected by the pandemic. http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/Colombo2007/currentNew.aspx?new=943 Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) warn that senior citizens are gradually left out from various HIV/AIDS programmes due to neglect, but a few schemes targeted at this group, including women, are beginning to take shape in Thailand and Indonesia, according to non-government groups attending to the 8th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific. http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/Colombo2007/currentNew.aspx?new=942 The volunteer spirit is alive and well at the 8th ICAAP: Everyday, 250 Sri Lankan and 100 international volunteers troop in full force to the congress venue here. http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/Colombo2007/currentNew.aspx?new=940 Sam Rith The movement of migrant labour has always been a sensitive issue among sending and receiving countries within South-east Asia, but a regional official for AIDS says it is time to face the issue of HIV and AIDS because of the high degree of mobility of workers in the region. http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/Colombo2007/currentNew.aspx?new=938 Zofeen T Ebrahim Why isn’t it considered normal for a man to have sex with another man? Why is there a preponderance of social disapproval of this kind of relationship? And who defines a male? http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/Colombo2007/currentNew.aspx?new=936 Suvendrini Kakuchi Conflict has torn apart the life of Dy Many, an HIV and AIDS activist from Cambodia who is HIV-positive. http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/Colombo2007/currentNew.aspx?new=935 Johanna Son Burma is seen as a reclusive country whose real HIV and AIDS situation is a deep, dark secret. But top Burmese officials, independent experts and AIDS researchers here painted a picture of a country that is making some progress, despite what some called its "unethical" abandonment by international AIDS organisations. http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/Colombo2007/currentNew.aspx?new=933 Lynette Lee Corporal Journalists are expected to be word meisters but when it comes to reporting on HIV and AIDS, the gift of gab seems to have deserted them. http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/Colombo2007/currentNew.aspx?new=932 Richel Langit-Dursin An openly gay judge appointed by former South African President Nelson Mandela to the High Court feels like an "arrested criminal" while attending the ongoing 8th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) in Sri Lanka. http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/Colombo2007/currentNew.aspx?new=930 Karen Yap Lih Huey Not too many people in India talk openly about HIV/AIDS, and discussing health issues can be difficult too. You have to keep asking them – three, four, five times – to find out what’s bothering them. If you’re lucky they will tell, but it’s difficult to talk openly. http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/Colombo2007/currentNew.aspx?new=929 Lynette Lee Corporal The steep rise in HIV cases in recent years in Central Asia – at a pace faster than in other regions of the world -- has set alarm bells ringing among government and non-government groups in the former Soviet republics. http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/Colombo2007/currentNew.aspx?new=928 Zofeen T Ebrahim The feminisation of HIV and AIDS continues to be in full swing in the Asia-Pacific, reflected in the fact that almost 40 percent of new HIV cases are among women even if the newest estimates show that there are fewer people than originally estimated to be living with the virus. http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/Colombo2007/currentNew.aspx?new=927 Suvendrini Kakuchi What do infrastructure projects like roads, bridges and ports, have to do with HIV and AIDS? http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/Colombo2007/currentNew.aspx?new=926 Sam Rith Although the number of AIDS orphans has risen alarmingly across Africa and the Asia-Pacific and reflect signs of being a global concern, the voices of children living with HIV/AIDS remain unrepresented during the 8th ICAAP. http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/Colombo2007/currentNew.aspx?new=921 Richel Langit-Dursin "I’m HIV-positive, but that doesn’t mean that I’m bad," 42-year-old Anandi Yuvaraj from India told the opening plenary session Monday of the 8th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) here. http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/Colombo2007/currentNew.aspx?new=920 Richel Langit-Dursin Asia-Pacific nations need to allocate more money from their own national coffers to address the HIV and AIDS -- and avoid falling into the trap of over-reliance on external donor funds, Joint U.N. Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS) regional director for Asia-Pacific Prasada Rao said Monday. http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/Colombo2007/currentNew.aspx?new=917 HIV prevalence rates among young adults are among the highest in Cambodia, but the South-east Asian country does not yet have a national youth network that could help address issues like HIV and AIDS. http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/Colombo2007/currentNew.aspx?new=916 At the sidelines of the ICAAP, members of the Christian, Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu faiths agreed that their involvement in curbing HIV and AIDS is necessary because the pandemic deals with human suffering and responds to their communities' real needs. http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/Colombo2007/currentNew.aspx?new=915 Sam Rith For Sita in the Hindu epic Ramayana, it was a memorable sojourn at the island of Serendipity - the explosion of rich colours, serene beauty, remarkable hospitality and tranquility that momentarily erase the fear of her abduction by Rawana, the King of Lanka. http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/Colombo2007/currentNew.aspx?new=914 Suvendrini Kakuchi The 8th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) opened here with a strong message of hope, anchored on the fact that the world's most populous region still has relatively low prevalence rates of HIV despite problems of poverty, discrimination and stigma. http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/Colombo2007/currentNew.aspx?new=913 Johanna Son If the media needed any reminder of the ethnic conflict simmering in this South Asian island nation, they got it loud and clear on Sunday afternoon – from the lengthy and strict security procedures they had to go through in order to cover the opening ceremonies of the 8th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) on Aug. 19. http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/Colombo2007/currentNew.aspx?new=911 Zofeen Ebrahim To Princey Mangalika from Sri Lanka, AIDS has come to mean hatred, hunger, humiliation and death. http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/Colombo2007/currentNew.aspx?new=910 Karen Yap Lih Huey Sabina Yeasmin Putul has a silent, determined look with her left fist clenched tight in front of her face – a vision of strength, grace, and resilience all in one. http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/Colombo2007/currentNew.aspx?new=909 Lynette Corporal It used to be that HIV infection and AIDS were considered God's curse or punishment, and that those people living with the virus were morally damned. But thanks to the collective work of different communities, this stigma, especially among religious leaders, is now giving way to enlightenment. http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/Colombo2007/currentNew.aspx?new=908 Zofeen Ebrahim "I’ve been running a temperature for the past 25 days and have lost about five kilos in the past month," says 28-year old Mohammad Sohail, who tested HIV-positive a year and a half back. "I just feel so weak everyday.”