Police Vulnerability to Police Vulnerability to HIV and AIDSHIV and AIDS

andand

Role of Police in its Role of Police in its PreventionPrevention

Why Are they Why Are they Vulnerable?Vulnerable?

HIV / AIDS Virus: Uniform Friendly

Who are Vulnerable?

Other than the regular vulnerable

groups such as sex workers, truckers,…

Army Personnel

Paramilitary Forces

Policemen

Prisoners

HIVHIV and theand the

Uniformed Uniformed ServicesServices

Estimates by the Defence Intelligence Agency/Armed Forces Medical Intelligence Center (DIA/AFMIC), published in 2000 in a US National Intelligence Council suggest

HIV Prevalence

Nigeria and Ivory Coast 10 to 20%

war-affected countries 40 to 60%(such as Angola and the

Democratic Republic of the Congo - DRC)

Findings of HIV infection rate by South African Defence Intelligence in 1999

50% in the armed forces of Angola, the DRC and Malawi,

55% in the Zimbabwean army, and

60% in the Zambian military in 1998

HIV in Indian Armed Forces

In 1998, the Hindustan Times reported that over 6,000 members of the Indian army had tested positive in ongoing testing

According to sources in the Armed Forces Medical Services there have been around 5,000 cases recorded between 1990 and mid-2004

Data from testing among those suspected of having HIV/AIDS, military blood donors, high risk groups and those tested before being deployed abroad, suggested a cumulative rate per thousand in 2001 of 0.03 in the air force, 0.22 in the army and 0.41 in the navy.

With 3.97 million adult HIV infections, India has the second largest number of HIV/AIDS infected people in the world.

The Indian uniformed services count 1.3 million active members of the military and 535,000 in the reserve.

Estimates based on the national average suggest that approximately 20,000 servicemen are infected.

Bihar military police personnel (30%) & housewives (27.6%) ... where the highest prevalence of HIV infection was seen in India

Soldiers included to High Risk Group

In developing countries, commercial sex workers, truck drivers and migrant labourers have often been considered among the key vectors of HIV transmission.

More recently, soldiers have been added to the list as both a high risk and key 'bridging' group, acting as a conduit for the spread of HIV into the wider population.

HIV and AIDS

And

Policemen

450 Mumbai Policemen Tested Positive

HUNDREDS of policemen in Bombay tested positive for HIV in recent health examinations, prompting the police department tolaunch an AIDS awareness drive

"Around 450 policemen have tested positive for HIV,"

Mumbai police authorities were alarmed by the results of the initial HIV tests on 150 policemen, of which nearly 10 percent of them tested positive.

Pune Police

In conservative Pune, a fresh case of AIDS or HIV-positive isregistered every four months at the Police Hospital situated in theheadquarters

In Pune, afflicted policemen no longer able to undertake strenuousbeat work are assigned to the desk work supervising pollution undercontrol-testing units

Prem Kishan Jain, joint police commissioner, Pune

Punjab Police

After seven cops in Ferozepur (Punjab) tested positive for HIV policemen are being put through a comprehensive medical examination

A survey done by BSACS, among enunchs living in Patna, recently revealed that they numbered policemen among their regularclients. "We definitely consider the police force to be a high-risk group in the light of these findings,"

Uday Kumar Ujjwala of BACS, Bihar

Non-governmental organisation Sakhi that has worked with commercial sex-workers in Patna, too, has found that cops are regularvisitors. "The sex-workers' clients from the police include men from the top to the bottom,"claims a Sakhi activist.

Bihar Police

"Policemen should be considered aspart of a high-risk group along with commercial sex-workers, migrantworkers and truckers,“

An activist from Hyderabad

In the 2001 General Assembly Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, member states undertook to have in place, by 2003, "national strategies to address the spread of HIV among national uniformed services" and to ensure the inclusion of HIV/AIDS awareness in guidelines for those involved in international peacekeeping operations.

Reasons

Young men of a sexually active age, imbued with a risk-taking ethos and deployed on duty away from home with money in their pockets

Continuously on night rounds (Poor working conditions)

Stress due to working conditions (Long hours)

Easy Accessibility to sex workers

vulnerable to sex bribes

Alcoholism

Away from family members

Hesitation / Shy of using condoms

Handling bleeding persons (Accidents / Riots)

Implications

Threat of weakening the Force

Heavy loss of life

Health hazards

Mental trauma

Moral of the force

Remedies

Know Aids for No Aids

Safe measures

Self Perception

Modification in Risk Behavior

Avail facilities without hesitation

Seek early and complete treatment for STI

Carefully Handling bleeding persons

Role of Police in Prevention of HIV / AIDS

Police Department is one dept. which works round the clock

Police station is never shut Policemen meets persons from all walks of

life He is capable of commanding certain

vulnerable groups (Drivers, Hotel workers, Sex workers, offenders)

He holds contact meetings at least once a month

Visits Villages at least twice a month

To know & understand ITPA

To implement ITPA in the True Spirit

To understand the word prostitution

To stop exploiting innocent women & sex workers

To be Unbiased about sex work / workers

Coordinate wherever possible to create awareness

Stop harassing workers engaged in condom distributionPermit NGOs to explain the implications of HIV / AIDS to Policemen / Families Protect sex workers from violence and Harassment by RowdiesTo respect Human Dignity and treat everyone as equals

THANK YOU

Ravi Narayan, DySP

Acknowledgements

Ms. Vandana Gurnani, Ms. Shobha Veigas, Dr. Srinath M Maddur,

Mr. Shajan - Abhaya AKP