Putting people first means following Gandhi's Talisman
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Shobha Shukla – CNS
Contd from previous issue
“We need to be thinking about solutions from the perspective of people for whom we are working - the perspective of people living with HIV - and getting the community to lead the HIV response. One of UNAIDS global targets is the goal of reaching 30-80-60, which is about ensuring that the community are engaged and involved in the response: at least 30% of testing and treatment services are community-led; 80% of HIV prevention services engage with and involve the community; and 60% of the programmes looking at the enabling environment also involve and engage the community. There is still a long way to go but that principle is at least enshrined and is a global goal.”
Are human rights, dignity and equity missing when we serve?
Dr Ishwar Gilada serves on the Governing Council of International AIDS Society (IAS) and is part of the organising committee of 25th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2024) in Munich, Germany. He said: “#PutPeopleFirst means many things to me. We must be mindful of the language we use and not use terminologies that are disrespectful, demeaning or stigmatising. The person comes first, her/his/their condition or disease(s) is secondary. Also, we should not discriminate by our actions. Empathy should be real within our hearts when we serve the people. When I hug a person we serve, it may restore their confidence. Treating them with medical science and empathy both are important. In the past when there was too much stigma around HIV, I would visit my patients’ homes, eat with them the food cooked by them to remove the then prevalent misconceptions about its infectiousness. We can put people first by treating them just like any other person, giving them financial rights and empowering them.”
Nothing about us without us principle
Dr Kuldeep Singh Sachdeva, former head of Indian government's TB and HIV programmes, former South-East Asia Regional Director of International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), and President-Chief Medical Officer of Molbio Diagnostics, said: “To me it means walking the talk on ‘Nothing about us, without us’ principle. Policies and implementation frameworks made by policymakers should have the consent of people who need those services. Putting people first means making them an integral part of your policymaking process, its implementation and its monitoring and evaluation and feedback framework. They should also contribute to decision-making. But when you move into the much larger area of public health, you realize that there are many people with symptoms of illness who are not seeking care, and the challenge is to reach those people. Those challenges largely are surmountable, but we keep on missing people. We must reach out to everybody, diagnose everybody- find all people with HIV, AIDS, TB or any other disease. That is the first dictum of putting people first from a public health perspective.”
Put people’s needs first
Dr Rajesh Kumar Sood, District Programme Officer, Kangra, Himachal Pradesh state of India told CNS: “For me, putting people first means putting people’s needs first, understanding the barriers and trying to address those barriers. Vulnerable and marginalized people (especially gender diverse community members) are often left out from health services. So, we engaged with the Himachal Queer Foundation and sensitized our staff. Making our healthcare services friendlier for the communities and getting the service providers out of their judgmental attitudes, can go a long way in putting people’s needs first."
"We need to understand the health needs of the people. This is a huge challenge, because for the service providers it is the statistics and numbers that matter. If service providers could treat people as humans rather than mere numbers, it would be putting people first. It is very important to have empathy. If we put ourselves in the shoes of the person who is sitting on the other side of the table, it would make our services more humane and more acceptable.
(To be contd)
Contd from previous issue
“We need to be thinking about solutions from the perspective of people for whom we are working - the perspective of people living with HIV - and getting the community to lead the HIV response. One of UNAIDS global targets is the goal of reaching 30-80-60, which is about ensuring that the community are engaged and involved in the response: at least 30% of testing and treatment services are community-led; 80% of HIV prevention services engage with and involve the community; and 60% of the programmes looking at the enabling environment also involve and engage the community. There is still a long way to go but that principle is at least enshrined and is a global goal.”
Are human rights, dignity and equity missing when we serve?
Dr Ishwar Gilada serves on the Governing Council of International AIDS Society (IAS) and is part of the organising committee of 25th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2024) in Munich, Germany. He said: “#PutPeopleFirst means many things to me. We must be mindful of the language we use and not use terminologies that are disrespectful, demeaning or stigmatising. The person comes first, her/his/their condition or disease(s) is secondary. Also, we should not discriminate by our actions. Empathy should be real within our hearts when we serve the people. When I hug a person we serve, it may restore their confidence. Treating them with medical science and empathy both are important. In the past when there was too much stigma around HIV, I would visit my patients’ homes, eat with them the food cooked by them to remove the then prevalent misconceptions about its infectiousness. We can put people first by treating them just like any other person, giving them financial rights and empowering them.”
Nothing about us without us principle
Dr Kuldeep Singh Sachdeva, former head of Indian government's TB and HIV programmes, former South-East Asia Regional Director of International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), and President-Chief Medical Officer of Molbio Diagnostics, said: “To me it means walking the talk on ‘Nothing about us, without us’ principle. Policies and implementation frameworks made by policymakers should have the consent of people who need those services. Putting people first means making them an integral part of your policymaking process, its implementation and its monitoring and evaluation and feedback framework. They should also contribute to decision-making. But when you move into the much larger area of public health, you realize that there are many people with symptoms of illness who are not seeking care, and the challenge is to reach those people. Those challenges largely are surmountable, but we keep on missing people. We must reach out to everybody, diagnose everybody- find all people with HIV, AIDS, TB or any other disease. That is the first dictum of putting people first from a public health perspective.”
Put people’s needs first
Dr Rajesh Kumar Sood, District Programme Officer, Kangra, Himachal Pradesh state of India told CNS: “For me, putting people first means putting people’s needs first, understanding the barriers and trying to address those barriers. Vulnerable and marginalized people (especially gender diverse community members) are often left out from health services. So, we engaged with the Himachal Queer Foundation and sensitized our staff. Making our healthcare services friendlier for the communities and getting the service providers out of their judgmental attitudes, can go a long way in putting people’s needs first."
"We need to understand the health needs of the people. This is a huge challenge, because for the service providers it is the statistics and numbers that matter. If service providers could treat people as humans rather than mere numbers, it would be putting people first. It is very important to have empathy. If we put ourselves in the shoes of the person who is sitting on the other side of the table, it would make our services more humane and more acceptable.
(To be contd)