Imlisanen Jamir
Growing attention is being paid to leadership and ‘political will’ as key contextual factors in shaping the outcomes of HIV/AIDS management efforts.
However, in Nagaland, the Legislator’s Forum on AIDS (LFA), which for over a decade served as a forum for legislators to engage in efforts to fight HIV and AIDS in Nagaland, has been disbanded. According to reports, paucity of funds led to the forum’s disbanding.
The move comes at a time when the latest data shows Nagaland having the second highest adult prevalence in the country at 1.45%, compared to the national prevalence of 0.22%. This has drawn concerns from several organizations in the State working towards mitigating the HIV epidemic.
To compound issues, the COVID-19 pandemic has shown how important it is to strengthen healthcare structures. People living with HIV who are not on treatment or who are not virally suppressed may have a compromised immune system that makes them vulnerable to opportunistic infections and more severe illnesses.
Forums like the LFA are crucial in facilitating spaces where people would be most likely to work collaboratively for behaviour change, stigma reduction and optimal support for people with AIDS and their carers. Such a setting provides opportunities for the development of appropriate knowledge and skills, as well as transformative social spaces in which local people can engage in dialogue with liked and trusted peers.
It also enhances communication between those on the field and policy makers. Ideally such dialogue provides opportunities for community members to: develop critical understandings of how culture, poverty and gender inequalities hinder effective community responses to AIDS; develop a sense of ‘ownership’ of the problem rather than waiting passively for outsiders to solve it.
It can also identify and develop confidence in local individual and group strengths for tackling HIV and AIDS; and identify and network with outside agencies best equipped to support them in responding more effectively to the challenges of prevention and care.
Fighting the spread of HIV is a matter of political will. And sadly, moves like the disbanding of the LFA gives out the wrong message. Further, the recent fallout in another such platform—the Joint Legislators Forum (JLF) on the Naga political issue—is a sign of the failure of bipartisanship in Nagaland.
We have entered a crucial moment in the fight against AIDS. Whether and how we seek to prevent the spread of the HIV virus speaks volumes about the incompetence and inhumanity of ourselves and our leaders and reveals the caring — or uncaring — face of whole societies.
Comments can be sent to imlisanenjamir@gmail.com
