University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Written by Renato Palmi, 2005
HIV/AIDS-in Chinese-occupied Tibet and the Tibetan Diaspora in India
Introduction
Little has been written on the effects that the HIV/AIDS pandemic may have on the Tibetan diaspora or the Tibetans living in Chinese- occupied Tibet if pre-emptive measures are not put in place to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS within these communities.
Politically and economically isolated, the Tibetan exiled community, which numbers around 100 000, is found mainly in settlement camps throughout India. The welfare of the Tibetan refugees falls under the auspices of the Tibetan government-in-exile (TGiE) which is based in a north-Indian hill station called Dharamsala.
In order to understand the possible threat HIV/AIDS might have on this community, it is important to understand the socio-political contexts within which the Tibetan people are forced to live, both in their homeland of Tibet, which has been colonised by the People’s Republic of China since 1949, and in India as refugees.
Statistics of HIV/AIDS prevalence in China are often inaccurate, being based on flawed methodology and derived from unreliable sources. Furthermore, figures of HIV prevalence and AIDS deaths inside Chinese-controlled Tibet are even more difficult to obtain, as the Chinese government does not permit independent monitoring or research being conducted inside Tibet. Consequently, most statistics obtained in relation to Tibet are based on educated guesses, taking into consideration reports from Tibetan refugees and undercover human rights monitors. Communication with the TGiE is difficult at the best of times, and obtaining information on HIV/AIDS within the exiled community has been and continues to be a slow and frustrating process.
From information obtained for this assignment, it can be surmised with relative confidence that the authorities within the TGiE do not realise the threat HIV/AIDS could have for their community and so might only begin to act decisively when it is too late. It is also feasible to assume that the world’s states and institutions have not taken seriously the consequences HIV/AIDS might have for Tibetan refugees, those living in exile and Tibetans inside Tibet, in terms of social, economic and general developmental needs, inasmuch as they are already severely marginalised in these aspects.
The term “the third Wave” refers to the rapid increase of HIV/AIDS prevalence in China and India, the two most heavily populated countries in the world, each with a large migratory workforce. HIV/AIDS will have a devastating effect, not only in China and India, but throughout Asia, and in particular will cause an demographic imbalance amongst minority groups and Stateless persons such as the Tibetans, if regulatory programmes to protect such individuals and groups are not established.
Tibet: an Introduction
Ethnic Tibet, before the PRC invaded it in 1949, covered an area of 2.5 million square kilometres. In the early Sixties, much of Tibet became incorporated into Chinese provinces. To this day, the PRC government continues to violate the human rights of the Tibetan people with blatant disrespect of international law. As China’s status as a global economic force grows and multi-national corporations seek to trade with her, the rights of six million Tibetans pale into insignificance.
Today, as a result of China’s policy of flooding Tibet with Han Chinese “settlers”, ethnic Tibetans are a minority in their own country. In all major cities of Tibet, Han Chinese own and control all sectors of business, reducing the Tibetans to extreme poverty and deprivation. The PRC’s policies deny Tibetans access to common social rights such as health services, housing, State welfare and education.
With HIV/AIDS increasing in mainland China, and the use of occupied Tibet as geographic “elbow-room” for Chinese population transfer, economic exploitation and military strategy, the Tibetans are facing yet another struggle for survival. In terms of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, Tibet is a time-bomb. The migration of Han Chinese labour from China into Tibet, the massive Chinese military presence there and the country’s characteristic isolation, in terms of both topography and communications, present ideal opportunities for HIV/AIDS to spread uncontrolled in the region historically known as the Roof of the World.
Furthermore, for the PRC government, the unchecked spread of HIV/AIDS may be seen as a useful mechanism in literally, a genocidal subjugation of the Tibetans.
HIV/AIDS in Tibet
According to a 2001 report, “Although minorities represent only one-tenth of the total population of China, they may suffer from disproportionately high HIV/AIDS rates … [therefore] a significant decrease in minority populations may occur” (Seidman, 2001: 1). This report claims that there are no precise figures of people with HIV and or AIDS. I concur with this, as I too could not obtain any comprehensive data on HIV/AIDS inside Tibet.
Seidman (2001: 8, 9) cites the following risk factors facing the Tibetans:
1. Lack of education around HIV/AIDS.
2. Residence in poor rural areas.
3. Poverty-stricken Tibetans forced into prostitution and illegal blood sales.
The Tibet Centre for Human Rights and Democracy’s 2001 Annual Report states the following:
According to the US Embassy in Beijing to date, Tibet is declared to have no confirmed HIV/AIDS cases. The US Embassy is referring to the ‘Tibet Autonomous Region’ excluding areas of pre-1959 Tibet that have since been claimed by China. Tibetan provinces incorporated into China proper, such as Yunnan, record the highest rate of HIV/AIDS in China. Inside the “TAR” there are no HIV/AIDS testing facilities, rendering it impossible to ascertain the level of the virus inside Tibet. The lack of confirmed HIV/AIDS cases must therefore be seen as reflecting these factors, rather than the status of health inside Tibet.
The Report raises questions about the rights of Tibetans in relation to HIV/AIDS. In cognisance of the PRC’s violation of the rights of Tibetans, it would come as no surprise if the spread of HIV/AIDS amongst Tibetans did not cause the Chinese government much concern. The Report continues:
Absence of strategies targeted toward HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention are reflected through the testimonies of recent exiles. The majority of new arrivals from Tibet clearly state: “No one in our country knows about it [HIV/AIDS]”.
If there is to be any hope of addressing HIV/AIDS in Tibet, the Chinese government would need to set aside its paranoid distrust of foreign intervention by allowing international experts into Tibet so as to gauge the levels of infection and mortality, and to implement HIV/AIDS prevention programmes. Substantial reforms in health care systems and policies would be critical in order to support the medical and social needs of indigenous Tibetans who are infected and affected by HIV and AIDS.
China and HIV/AIDS
The length format of this assignment does not allow for an in-depth examination of HIV/AIDS in mainland China, but the following data give a clear insight into the mixed reportage on HIV/AIDS emerging around this subject, which, inescapably, will have an impact on Tibet.
1. 10 May 2004: SAfm Radio News (16h00 bulletin) reported the release by China of official figures as being 840 000 people infected with HIV, and 80 000 having full-blown AIDS. The same report stated that openness about HIV/AIDS had become evident during 2003 when the Chinese Premier had publicly shaken hands with an AIDS patient.
2. Interestingly, the same statistics had been cited on 22 September 2003, by the China AIDS Survey, which reported that Gao Qiang, PRC Executive Vice-Minister of Health had provided these official figures. (www.casy.org)
3. 31 October – 6 November 2003: the Mail & Guardian reported that in the Henan province alone, approximately one million people were infected.
4. 17 October 2003: The China Reform Monitor No 515, (www.afpc.org). published United Nations estimates of between 800 000 to 1,5 million Chinese infected by HIV at the end of 2001. UN officials claimed that the number could soar to 10 million by the end of the decade.
The Tibetan Diaspora in India
Because of the repressive polices imposed by the Chinese authorities on the Tibetans, many seek refuge in India, the seat of the Tibet government-in-exile.
According to a report by the International Campaign for Tibet (Dangerous Crossing, 2002: 2) “… the annual count [of Tibetan refugees] has averaged to roughly 2 500 per year”. The majority of these refugees are young children and teenagers. Their escape route crosses three countries: Tibet, Nepal and India, and can take between 30 days and three weeks.
With very little protective clothing, these young refugees not only have to face some of the harshest climates in the world (even in summer), crossing its highest mountain range – the Himalayas – on foot, in temperatures as low as -20 degrees, they also have to be consistently alert to Chinese army patrols in the border regions between Nepal and Tibet. Once entering Nepal, they are confronted by the Nepalese authorities, and the rape of Tibetan females in these situations by Nepalese soldiers is common, as is the theft of their meagre belongings. Tibetan males are often imprisoned, beaten and sometimes returned to Chinese authorities. If they do survive these ordeals, the refugees are “processed” at the United Nations Refugee Office in Nepal, where, if they are fortunate, they are granted permission to travel onward to India.
According to the TgiE, approximately 85 000 exiled Tibetans live in 48 settlements based in India. Some 44 health clinics, nine primary health care centres and seven hospitals have been built since 1960 in these areas. Health care is focused on tuberculosis, sanitation projects, mother-and-child care and immunisation projects. HIV/AIDS does not seem to feature much in the literature emanating from the TGiE’s Department of Health, even though they have indicated that there is information made available to the community on the epidemic.
In recent communications with the Department, no data of infected refugees could be provided “because individuals do not disclose [their status]”. One could assume from this response that there are no programmes in place for counselling or testing. According to the Department, neither the Nepalese government, the UN Refugee Centre based in Nepal nor the Indian government offer HIV/AIDS testing for new refugees.
Supportive measures to address this situation could include revision of policy so as to restrict the inflow of not only Tibetan refugees but other migrant groups as the full impact of HIV/AIDS takes hold in India. The UNAIDS Regional Human Development Report (2003) states that:
India has a population of over one billion. HIV/AIDS prevalence is estimated at 3,97 million, ranking second only to South Africa.
Correspondence with the Dalai Lama’s Representative for Africa,
Mr. Jampal Chosang (2004) revealed the following:
Among other departments, our Health Department is responsible for health care needs of the Tibetans in exile and the new arrivals from Tibet. Tibetans are educated in and examined for infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS [this apparently contradicting the Department of Health’s information]. There have not been any reported cases of HIV or AIDS [in the Tibetan exiled community] … our hospitals do not have specific drugs for HIV or AIDS.
Mr. Chosang informed me that were HIV infection or AIDS-related diseases to be diagnosed, the patient would be referred to an Indian hospital - but as Indian hospitals become inundated with Indian HIV/AIDS patients, and bed space becomes more limited, there is concern that Tibetan refugees might not be accommodated ahead of Indian citizens.
There is further contradiction with regard to condom use and availability. One Tibetan official has indicated that condoms are available freely from the local Indian Municipality, whereas the TGiE Department of Health states that no such supplies are made available by the Indian Government.
As in South Africa, there is amongst the Tibetan community a longstanding reverence for traditional medicine. Many Tibetans prefer to see traditional Tibetan doctors for remedies rather than allopathic practitioners and medication. This resistance to Western medicine and, more especially, the polarisation of the two approaches could obstruct progress in the biomedical struggle against HIV/AIDS within the Tibetan exiled community.
There are a number of other social, cultural and political factors that should be considered in investigating the threat posed by the pandemic and barriers to HIV/AIDS prevention in this community.
Introduction
Little has been written on the effects that the HIV/AIDS pandemic may have on the Tibetan diaspora or the Tibetans living in Chinese- occupied Tibet if pre-emptive measures are not put in place to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS within these communities.
Politically and economically isolated, the Tibetan exiled community, which numbers around 100 000, is found mainly in settlement camps throughout India. The welfare of the Tibetan refugees falls under the auspices of the Tibetan government-in-exile (TGiE) which is based in a north-Indian hill station called Dharamsala.
In order to understand the possible threat HIV/AIDS might have on this community, it is important to understand the socio-political contexts within which the Tibetan people are forced to live, both in their homeland of Tibet, which has been colonised by the People’s Republic of China since 1949, and in India as refugees.
Statistics of HIV/AIDS prevalence in China are often inaccurate, being based on flawed methodology and derived from unreliable sources. Furthermore, figures of HIV prevalence and AIDS deaths inside Chinese-controlled Tibet are even more difficult to obtain, as the Chinese government does not permit independent monitoring or research being conducted inside Tibet. Consequently, most statistics obtained in relation to Tibet are based on educated guesses, taking into consideration reports from Tibetan refugees and undercover human rights monitors. Communication with the TGiE is difficult at the best of times, and obtaining information on HIV/AIDS within the exiled community has been and continues to be a slow and frustrating process.
From information obtained for this assignment, it can be surmised with relative confidence that the authorities within the TGiE do not realise the threat HIV/AIDS could have for their community and so might only begin to act decisively when it is too late. It is also feasible to assume that the world’s states and institutions have not taken seriously the consequences HIV/AIDS might have for Tibetan refugees, those living in exile and Tibetans inside Tibet, in terms of social, economic and general developmental needs, inasmuch as they are already severely marginalised in these aspects.
The term “the third Wave” refers to the rapid increase of HIV/AIDS prevalence in China and India, the two most heavily populated countries in the world, each with a large migratory workforce. HIV/AIDS will have a devastating effect, not only in China and India, but throughout Asia, and in particular will cause an demographic imbalance amongst minority groups and Stateless persons such as the Tibetans, if regulatory programmes to protect such individuals and groups are not established.
Tibet: an Introduction
Ethnic Tibet, before the PRC invaded it in 1949, covered an area of 2.5 million square kilometres. In the early Sixties, much of Tibet became incorporated into Chinese provinces. To this day, the PRC government continues to violate the human rights of the Tibetan people with blatant disrespect of international law. As China’s status as a global economic force grows and multi-national corporations seek to trade with her, the rights of six million Tibetans pale into insignificance.
Today, as a result of China’s policy of flooding Tibet with Han Chinese “settlers”, ethnic Tibetans are a minority in their own country. In all major cities of Tibet, Han Chinese own and control all sectors of business, reducing the Tibetans to extreme poverty and deprivation. The PRC’s policies deny Tibetans access to common social rights such as health services, housing, State welfare and education.
With HIV/AIDS increasing in mainland China, and the use of occupied Tibet as geographic “elbow-room” for Chinese population transfer, economic exploitation and military strategy, the Tibetans are facing yet another struggle for survival. In terms of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, Tibet is a time-bomb. The migration of Han Chinese labour from China into Tibet, the massive Chinese military presence there and the country’s characteristic isolation, in terms of both topography and communications, present ideal opportunities for HIV/AIDS to spread uncontrolled in the region historically known as the Roof of the World.
Furthermore, for the PRC government, the unchecked spread of HIV/AIDS may be seen as a useful mechanism in literally, a genocidal subjugation of the Tibetans.
HIV/AIDS in Tibet
According to a 2001 report, “Although minorities represent only one-tenth of the total population of China, they may suffer from disproportionately high HIV/AIDS rates … [therefore] a significant decrease in minority populations may occur” (Seidman, 2001: 1). This report claims that there are no precise figures of people with HIV and or AIDS. I concur with this, as I too could not obtain any comprehensive data on HIV/AIDS inside Tibet.
Seidman (2001: 8, 9) cites the following risk factors facing the Tibetans:
1. Lack of education around HIV/AIDS.
2. Residence in poor rural areas.
3. Poverty-stricken Tibetans forced into prostitution and illegal blood sales.
The Tibet Centre for Human Rights and Democracy’s 2001 Annual Report states the following:
According to the US Embassy in Beijing to date, Tibet is declared to have no confirmed HIV/AIDS cases. The US Embassy is referring to the ‘Tibet Autonomous Region’ excluding areas of pre-1959 Tibet that have since been claimed by China. Tibetan provinces incorporated into China proper, such as Yunnan, record the highest rate of HIV/AIDS in China. Inside the “TAR” there are no HIV/AIDS testing facilities, rendering it impossible to ascertain the level of the virus inside Tibet. The lack of confirmed HIV/AIDS cases must therefore be seen as reflecting these factors, rather than the status of health inside Tibet.
The Report raises questions about the rights of Tibetans in relation to HIV/AIDS. In cognisance of the PRC’s violation of the rights of Tibetans, it would come as no surprise if the spread of HIV/AIDS amongst Tibetans did not cause the Chinese government much concern. The Report continues:
Absence of strategies targeted toward HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention are reflected through the testimonies of recent exiles. The majority of new arrivals from Tibet clearly state: “No one in our country knows about it [HIV/AIDS]”.
If there is to be any hope of addressing HIV/AIDS in Tibet, the Chinese government would need to set aside its paranoid distrust of foreign intervention by allowing international experts into Tibet so as to gauge the levels of infection and mortality, and to implement HIV/AIDS prevention programmes. Substantial reforms in health care systems and policies would be critical in order to support the medical and social needs of indigenous Tibetans who are infected and affected by HIV and AIDS.
China and HIV/AIDS
The length format of this assignment does not allow for an in-depth examination of HIV/AIDS in mainland China, but the following data give a clear insight into the mixed reportage on HIV/AIDS emerging around this subject, which, inescapably, will have an impact on Tibet.
1. 10 May 2004: SAfm Radio News (16h00 bulletin) reported the release by China of official figures as being 840 000 people infected with HIV, and 80 000 having full-blown AIDS. The same report stated that openness about HIV/AIDS had become evident during 2003 when the Chinese Premier had publicly shaken hands with an AIDS patient.
2. Interestingly, the same statistics had been cited on 22 September 2003, by the China AIDS Survey, which reported that Gao Qiang, PRC Executive Vice-Minister of Health had provided these official figures. (www.casy.org)
3. 31 October – 6 November 2003: the Mail & Guardian reported that in the Henan province alone, approximately one million people were infected.
4. 17 October 2003: The China Reform Monitor No 515, (www.afpc.org). published United Nations estimates of between 800 000 to 1,5 million Chinese infected by HIV at the end of 2001. UN officials claimed that the number could soar to 10 million by the end of the decade.
The Tibetan Diaspora in India
Because of the repressive polices imposed by the Chinese authorities on the Tibetans, many seek refuge in India, the seat of the Tibet government-in-exile.
According to a report by the International Campaign for Tibet (Dangerous Crossing, 2002: 2) “… the annual count [of Tibetan refugees] has averaged to roughly 2 500 per year”. The majority of these refugees are young children and teenagers. Their escape route crosses three countries: Tibet, Nepal and India, and can take between 30 days and three weeks.
With very little protective clothing, these young refugees not only have to face some of the harshest climates in the world (even in summer), crossing its highest mountain range – the Himalayas – on foot, in temperatures as low as -20 degrees, they also have to be consistently alert to Chinese army patrols in the border regions between Nepal and Tibet. Once entering Nepal, they are confronted by the Nepalese authorities, and the rape of Tibetan females in these situations by Nepalese soldiers is common, as is the theft of their meagre belongings. Tibetan males are often imprisoned, beaten and sometimes returned to Chinese authorities. If they do survive these ordeals, the refugees are “processed” at the United Nations Refugee Office in Nepal, where, if they are fortunate, they are granted permission to travel onward to India.
According to the TgiE, approximately 85 000 exiled Tibetans live in 48 settlements based in India. Some 44 health clinics, nine primary health care centres and seven hospitals have been built since 1960 in these areas. Health care is focused on tuberculosis, sanitation projects, mother-and-child care and immunisation projects. HIV/AIDS does not seem to feature much in the literature emanating from the TGiE’s Department of Health, even though they have indicated that there is information made available to the community on the epidemic.
In recent communications with the Department, no data of infected refugees could be provided “because individuals do not disclose [their status]”. One could assume from this response that there are no programmes in place for counselling or testing. According to the Department, neither the Nepalese government, the UN Refugee Centre based in Nepal nor the Indian government offer HIV/AIDS testing for new refugees.
Supportive measures to address this situation could include revision of policy so as to restrict the inflow of not only Tibetan refugees but other migrant groups as the full impact of HIV/AIDS takes hold in India. The UNAIDS Regional Human Development Report (2003) states that:
India has a population of over one billion. HIV/AIDS prevalence is estimated at 3,97 million, ranking second only to South Africa.
Correspondence with the Dalai Lama’s Representative for Africa,
Mr. Jampal Chosang (2004) revealed the following:
Among other departments, our Health Department is responsible for health care needs of the Tibetans in exile and the new arrivals from Tibet. Tibetans are educated in and examined for infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS [this apparently contradicting the Department of Health’s information]. There have not been any reported cases of HIV or AIDS [in the Tibetan exiled community] … our hospitals do not have specific drugs for HIV or AIDS.
Mr. Chosang informed me that were HIV infection or AIDS-related diseases to be diagnosed, the patient would be referred to an Indian hospital - but as Indian hospitals become inundated with Indian HIV/AIDS patients, and bed space becomes more limited, there is concern that Tibetan refugees might not be accommodated ahead of Indian citizens.
There is further contradiction with regard to condom use and availability. One Tibetan official has indicated that condoms are available freely from the local Indian Municipality, whereas the TGiE Department of Health states that no such supplies are made available by the Indian Government.
As in South Africa, there is amongst the Tibetan community a longstanding reverence for traditional medicine. Many Tibetans prefer to see traditional Tibetan doctors for remedies rather than allopathic practitioners and medication. This resistance to Western medicine and, more especially, the polarisation of the two approaches could obstruct progress in the biomedical struggle against HIV/AIDS within the Tibetan exiled community.
There are a number of other social, cultural and political factors that should be considered in investigating the threat posed by the pandemic and barriers to HIV/AIDS prevention in this community.
The Tibetans are a stateless and, globally speaking, ignored nation. This identity of international abandonment is stressful for its members, and leads individuals living in exile, (having sacrificed their homeland and families in order to live in a “free” world) to seek solace in alcohol and drugs, which further depletes their already jeopardised immune system, and in turn increasing their physical, emotional and psychological vulnerability to HIV infection.
According to Seidman (1997-98) other factors add to the complexity of incorporating traditional belief systems with modern preventative measures, such as:
Condom use has never been a traditional form of contraception. There is a feeling in the Indian host community that access to condom use would lead to higher levels of premarital sex. Many Tibetans don’t know how to properly use a condom and have difficulty acquiring them. Indian condoms are expensive and of poor quality.
Conclusion
Monitoring the growth of HIV/AIDS within Chinese-occupied Tibet is extremely difficult given the complex and obstructive systems of Chinese bureaucracy. Furthermore, the political situation inside Tibet impedes free and empirical research into HIV/AIDS on the “Roof of the World”.
Bearing in mind the already restrictive general policies towards the Tibetans by the Chinese authorities, if HIV/AIDS does become a major health concern, it is most unlikely that equal or fair access to Chinese-run health care systems for Tibetans would be facilitated. Tibetans are regarded as “barbaric” and “sub-human” by the Chinese, and any notion of scarce medical resources being expended on individuals who are already perceived as worthless is almost nonsensical.
Indeed, HIV infection of Tibetans inside Tibet, and its fatal consequences if untreated, could be deployed by the Chinese government as a means of accelerating the ruthless and systematic annihilation of the indigenous Tibetan population.
With the mobility of population groups already known to be a factor in the global spread of HIV, the migration of Tibetan refugees through three countries, with the extreme physical and psychological vulnerabilities to which they are exposed both during and after this arduous journey, conjoin to typify these Tibetans-in-flight as a distinct “risk-group”.
The Tibet government in-exile may offer some literature and informative workshops on the subject, but from the preliminary research I have conducted, it appears that the TGiE has not fully realised the dangers that HIV/AIDS poses for their community. At the same time, one needs to be aware that, due to the profound levels of stigma and denial across the region around HIV/AIDS, there might well be some reticence involved on the part of the TGiE officials regarding the release of substantive data on HIV/AIDS within the exiled community, purely for fear of alarming their host – the Indian government.
The pandemic will have a devastating effect on the refugees and could hasten the extinction of an already endangered nation. Tibetans in exile are not officially recognised in terms of statehood, cannot hold passports, and require special permits in order to travel to and from their Indian refuge. They have no representation within the United Nations or other international organisations, and little or no access to international donor funding to establish facilities and programmes within their base in Dharamsala to deal with HIV/AIDS. As it is, their access to proper medical care is limited, and as India begins to come to terms with the “Third Wave” of the pandemic sweeping across the Asian continent, any changes adopted by the Indian authorities to address their own citizens’ needs could create a disastrous situation for the Tibetans in exile.
My conviction is that the TGiE needs to make HIV/AIDS a priority and to actively seek partnerships and funding to deal with the threats it poses for their nation. Just as South Africa is having to find ways of synergising traditional belief systems with modern Western biomedical approaches, so will the Tibetans need to identify ethical ways to complement their ancient belief systems with Western modalities. The Tibetan people now face an additional threat to their continued existence: the HIV/AIDS pandemic could result in the eradication of this ancient and unique nation in a more efficient and agonising way than ever envisaged by their Chinese oppressors.
References:
Annual Report 2001. HIV/AIDS and the right to life. India: Tibet Centre for Human Rights and Democracy
Chosang, Jampal 2004. E-mail correspondence between
Mr. J. Chosang, the Dalai Lama’s Representative for Africa and
Mr. Renato Palmi
Department of Health – Tibet Government in-exile 2004.
E-mail correspondence between Mr. Kalsang Tsering and
Mr. Renato Palmi.
International Campaign for Tibet 2002. Dangerous Crossing. USA: ICT
Seidman, Spencer. 2001. HIV/AIDS in China and its implications for Tibetans and other minorities. San Francisco: Psychotherapy San Francisco http://itsa.ucsf.edu/~seidman/HIVC2.html
Downloaded: 21 April 2004
Seidman, Spencer. 1997-98. ‘AIDS in India and its potential impact on the Tibetan refugee community.’ Tibetan Health-Newsletter of the Department of Health, Central Tibetan Administration. 12(2)
Tibet Government-in-exile. Department of Information and International Relations. India: www.tibet.net
Downloaded: 21 April 2004
UNAIDS Regional Human Development Report 2003.
HIV/AIDS and Development in South Asia. www.youandaids.org
Downloaded: 21 April 2004
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1 comments:
Tibetian's in that sense, have practically got it hard from all ends.
The United nations is trying hard on their part, to work on the health issues of all the developing nations.This year in India they are coming up with their "Stand Up and Take Action day"to ,aiming at getting people to work towards a common cause.
It has dedicated its Goal 6 of the Millennium development goals towards this cause.
Please get back regarding any queries of the SUTA event.
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