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Tibetan AIDS patient dies on World AIDS Day

By Lobsang Wangyal | Tibet Sun

Miss Tibet 2009, Tenzin Choezom (second right), flagging off the “Run for AIDS” to mark World AIDS Day in Dharamshala, India, on 1 December 2009.Tibet Sun/Lobsang Wangyal/India

A Tibetan AIDS patient died in Dharamshala on World Aids Day, 1 December. The man, said to be in his early 30s, was declared dead by a Tibetan medical doctor when he was found in the street in the early morning today. He had been suffering from TB for some time, according to an HIV/AIDS initiative organisation.

Choice, a Tibetan HIV/AIDS Initiative based in Dharamshala, had come to know about the man’s case in 2007.

“He may have contracted HIV seven or eight years ago,” says Phuntsok Chomphel, Project Officer of the organisation.

Although there are no formal data available on the HIV/AIDS situation in the Tibetan community, according to information available with Choice, there are over 200 Tibetans living with HIV/AIDS in different settlements in India.

“Our primary and secondary information indicated that most of the cases were sexually transmitted, and women contracted the virus through their husbands,” says Phuntsok.

Four people have died from AIDS in the Tibetan community in India in 2008. Eight people have reportedly died from the disease in Mundgod Tibetan settlement in South India over the years.

The latest statistics of global HIV and AIDS, published by UNAIDS in November 2009 and referring to the end of 2008, are that more than 25 million people have died of AIDS since 1981, and almost 60 million people have been infected with HIV.

As the world marks World Aids Day today, globally some 33.4 million people are living with HIV. There were 2 million AIDS-related deaths in 2008 according to UNAIDS.

Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region most heavily affected, accounting for 67 percent of all people living with HIV, and 91 percent of all new infections among children.

Choice, together with the Department of Health of the Tibetan government-in-exile, organised a “Run for AIDS” to mark World AIDS Day in Dharamshala. Tibetans, Indians and tourists took part in the race, which was won by a Tibetan Children’s Village School student.

Miss Tibet 2009, Tenzin Choezom, who was the chief guest for the occasion, encouraged Tibetan youths to take every precaution to protect themselves from contracting HIV, emphasising the practice of safe sex.

Tenzin also urged people to challenge the taboo that surrounds the disease. “People should come forward for check-ups, and those suffering from the disease should not be isolated.”

Copyright © 2009 Tibet Sun

Published in Tibet Sun