AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Kings XI Punjab, Parliamentarians and Activists collaborate to support “20x20” AIDS treatment goals

New Delhi: Kings XI Punjab, a community driven cricket team today announced their association with AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) - India Cares to foster their 20x20 Vision at press conference held today in New Delhi. The alliance aims at creating widespread awareness about HIV and drug abuse and various preventive measures and means to eradicate it. To showcase support Kings XI Punjab players were present at the event with intent to scale up access of this global campaign to antiretroviral therapy (ART) for at least 20 million people by year 2020. Stepping outside the realms of cricket, Kings XI Punjab has adopted this pertinent issue with an aim to change the Indian mindset and reinterpret the AIDS response not as a burden, but as a smart long-term investment that will pave the way to ending AIDS, boosting economic growth and saving millions of lives.

Mr. Fraser Castellino, Chief Operating Officer, Kings XI Punjab, “Drug abuse is a menace and has inflicted the society at large, especially in our catchment area of Punjab. We have collaborated with AHF in order to draw attention to curb this threat that is engulfing nations across the planet. We hope to increase awareness amongst people and wish to inculcate a sense of responsibility for working towards eradicating it. We firmly believe every small little act counts and therefore each one of us from players to promoters, every member of the franchise shares the sentiment of making the society a better place to live.”

Commenting on the collaboration, Dr. Sita Ratna Devi, India Bureau Chief, AHF said, “Many lesser economies like Sierra Leone in Africa have started following the updated guidelines and have shared their success stories in various international forums. Many countries in the African subcontinent are utilizing community based HIV testing using rapid whole blood test kits and task shifting measures in order to increase accessibility within the community while keeping the implementing costs of the outreach programs low. If they can, India definitely can implement these strategies to reach out to more than 1/3rd of the total estimated 2.1 million who are unaware of their HIV status but there needs to be an enhanced political and bureaucratic commitment for the same.”

Mr. Oscar Fernandes, MP, President of Forum of Parliamentarians on HIV AIDS, shared that “stigma and discrimination forms a major barrier to the HIV programmatic outreach and thus to the concept of 20x20 and hence needs to be tackled through better information education and communication (IEC) efforts and ensuring the HIV AIDS Bill acceptance in both the houses of the parliament A concerted effort from multiple stakeholders, including the Forum of Parliamentarians on HIV AIDS (FPA), and most importantly from communities and civil society, has helped to build the momentum on the HIV/AIDS Bill 2014. At present, the Bill is being reviewed by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare and we are confident that significant progress will be made on this very important legislation.”.

Mr. Manvendra Singh Gohil, Prince of Rajpipla, eminent gay activist and Chairperson, Lakshya Trust shared about the social issues faced by MSM and Transgenders, who have the highest prevalence of HIV among all vulnerable groups and stated that “While we appreciate the acceptance of Transgender identity, both MSM and Transgenders struggle for social and cultural acceptance. Laws like Section 377, which criminalizes homosexual acts, continue to prevent this acceptance while making it difficult to reach out to the population—which is the most at risk for HIV—with effective prevention efforts”.

Mr. Manoj Pardesi, General Secretary, National Coalition of People living with HIV AIDS in India(NCPI+) shared that “treatment is the best tool for prevention available at present but for it to be effective continuous supply of medicines and monitoring kits in ART centres is essential which will require robust logistical and supply chain management systems to be implemented in order to avoid the frequent stock-outs that is plaguing national programme. Without bridging these gaps, treatment expansion, and thus the goal of 20x20, will not be efficiently achieved”.

Dr. Nochiketa Mohanty, Country Program Manager, AHF India present at the conference said, “We are happy to be partnering with KXIP for the unveiling of the 20X20 vision. The objective behind initiating this tie-up and the campaign is to change the global mindset of people towards HIV testing and investing in treatment scale up that would eventually yield humanitarian and economic benefits that far outweigh the initial costs.” He further added, “This is a part of AHF’s 20x20 global campaign to scale up access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) for at least 20 million people globally by year 2020. It is a call to action for those who won’t sit on the sidelines as 23 million people living with HIV suffer and die without life-saving medication. We are exceptionally excited to have Kings XI Punjab on board to further promote the cause and would like to thank them for their support.”

Currently only 13.6 million people out of an estimated 36 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide are on ART, which is far too low. Millions of people still die of AIDS-related causes every year because they cannot get the medicine they need.