The recent conclave on HIV/AIDS organized by the Assam Rifles Wives Welfare Association in Shillong has drawn the wide attention of both the national and local media on the recent disclosure of a near HIV/AIDS epidemic in the armed forces. While such an initiative to address the problem was long overdue, the fact that the issue has been brought out into the open should be welcomed. What was encouraging to note was that even President A P J Abdul Kalam who attended the conclave openly broached on what was till recently a taboo topic and even came out with figures about the incidence of the killer disease within the Security Forces. While even the scientist in him can do nothing beyond assuring that an AIDS vaccine was in the offing, Kalam’s prescription asking the Assam Rifles not to be cowed down by incidents of HIV/AIDS in its ranks and, instead, telling them to inculcate an indomitable spirit to defeat the disease could not have come from a better person then the Commander-n-Chief of the Indian Armed forces himself.
HIV and other diseases represent a challenge to militaries throughout the world, and to perform its primary role of security it demands that the problem is tackled in its initial phase. South Africa, which has more people infected with HIV than any other country, has responded with a groundbreaking clinical research program in partnership with the United States that is investigating how best to manage the virus in a military setting and providing treatment to hundreds of infected members and their families.
Soldiers are in many ways at the forefront of the HIV and AIDS epidemic, because of certain obvious factors such as mobility and access to casual sex put them at high risk of catching and spreading the virus. The Assam Rifles is reported to have among it force, more than 180 personnel as HIV-positive, of which 32 have died of AIDS in the past decade. While such figures are alarming it is hardly surprising given that almost all old Assam Rifles posts are now the centers of fairly large townships, capitals of newly formed states and district headquarters; Aizawl, Imphal, Kohima, Mokokchung, Tuensang, Halflong, Cherrapunji and Tura being some of these. This makes them even more vulnerable to sexually transmitted infections during peace times compared to their civilian counterparts. The Assam Rifles as the premier paramilitary force deployed across north-east must not fight shy in combating the dreaded disease if its role as the “Sentinels of the North East” is to remain apt.
More of such initiative, like the recent conclave, must come from the top if the armed forces is to avert a major crisis. More people also need to be tested and those with HIV should be strictly monitored and treated. The problem of stigma must also be addressed because the stigma associated with HIV will only keep more soldiers away from seeking treatment. If this is allowed to happen it would only hasten the crisis. And before we know it our hospital wards could well be filled with military casualties. The armed forces can certainly do without another dangerous conflict which could turn out to be more deadly than any of its combat operations.
