 HIV/AIDS in Darjeeling, Northern India
In 2007, Dr. Louie made connections with Father Abraham, a Jesuit priest from Canada who has worked with the poor in northern India for over 50 years. He introduced her to several organizations in the Darjeeling region that provided services to PLHIV (people living with HIV and AIDS) and they expressed an interest in the Foundation’s programs.
The Darjeeling Project officially started in 2009 in hills of northeastern India and continues to help young men with heroin addiction. It is a joint HARM reduction project for the prevention of HIV with the Indian Red Cross Society in Kurseong, India by focusing on substance abuse in the region.
The Laura Louie Hope Projects has completed two trainings (spring and fall 2009) in the NADA ear acupuncture protocol for substance abuse, a well-recognized adjunctive therapy to substance abuse programs in North America. Both trainings successfully graduated nine peer counsellors in the NADA protocol, operating in five different clinic sites throughout the Darjeeling district.
Acupuncture is exceptional for treating any level of the drug recovery process. It treats acute withdrawal symptoms, which can include intense cravings, flu-like symptoms, pain, and anxiety. It also can help immensely with the post-acute symptoms. It is used in relapse prevention and with the addition of acupuncture; many rehabilitation centers have had far less relapses. Acupuncture is also used in prisons, shelters and drop-in centers. Acupuncture can help calm hostile clients so that they are more open to individual counselling.
In February and March 2010, site visits were done at all five Indian Red Cross acupuncture clinics in the Darjeeling district. A few days were spent at each of the clinics providing supervision, encouragement and fine-tuning of their clinical skills. All acupuncture clinics had successes with two to five patients at each drop in center (DIC) relinquishing heroin and becoming clean. Patient evaluations were given out to each client every one or two months to evaluate the efficacy of the acupuncture. All patients found acupuncture helpful for a number of withdrawal symptoms, especially for irritability, mood swings and sleep.
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Photo Above: Indian Red Cross Society of Kurseong. This is where the acupuncture training took place.
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Photo Above: Here Dr. Louie is being greeted by Mr. Dewas Sharma, Project Coordinator, (left) and Dr. P.K. Ghosh (right) of the Indian Red Cross Society on the first day of training. |
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Photo Left: We had a lovely surprise when we stepped in the training room with this poster on the wall. The Red Cross also had a wonderful opening ceremony for us, which included a journalist from the local newspaper. We had an article on our training in the newspaper the next day. |
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Photo Above: Jessica, our volunteer, showing the trainees their first acupuncture needle. |
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Photo Above: The 5 needle NADA ear acupuncture for substance abuse. |
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Photo Above: Jessica showing Uday the correct acupuncture location before he needles Bikram’s ear.
Photo left: Here Dr. Louie is showing Ranjan, Uttam and Bhaskar (left to right) ear acupuncture locations.
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Photo Above: Ranjan practicing ear acupuncture on Uttam with Dr. Louie supervising | |
Photo Above: Bhaskar practicing his ear acupuncture needle technique on Anjesh during the first week of training. |
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On our last visit to India the Laura Louie Hope Projects ran a free acupuncture clinic for three weeks to assess the need and interest in the community of Kalimpong, a small town in northeastern India located very near the Tibetan and Nepali borders. Many people suffer from pain in this small town. The community lacks resources, such as physiotherapy or occupational therapy, to help them. We found that people were very open to trying acupuncture and also were getting very good results. From that experience we are excitedly investigating the possibility of providing another acupuncture training for a small, rural hospital in Kalimpong and to establish an acupuncture clinic in the hospital similar to the Mae On Project.
Though not directly HIV related, the Laura Louie Hope Projects has seen the need to proactively get involved in assisting a small local NGO in Kalimpong to develop smokeless cooking stoves. The traditional kitchen stoves create so much smoke that it has compromised the health of many women and children. Dr. Laura could only handle about 5 minutes in their ‘kitchens’ while they cooked. The smoke irritated her eyes so much that she had a flood of tears down her face. You can only imagine what damage daily exposure to this “domestic” smoke must do the body. A modified rocket stove, along with better kitchen ventilation should go a long way to improving the health of the families who labour so hard in these hill farms. It will also decrease the cutting of trees for firewood since the rocket stove only burns twigs; a more environmentally sustainable fuel.
The Laura Louie Hope Projects is poised to continue its non-profit initiatives in India by establishing locally run, sustainable programs in the Darjeeling district of northeastern India. Principals are focused on an extensive, proactive, medical and educational program similar to the Mae On Project in Thailand; however, the Darjeeling Project will have a more regional focus on essential sustainability. The Darjeeling Project initiatives include:
- Using acupuncture techniques to provide complementary health care to the poor; address substance abuse, improve the symptoms of chronic HIV infection, and reduce the side effects of ART;
- Offering nutritional counseling to patients;
- Providing a culturally sensitive educational component including workshops and counseling to help people better understand HIV and its stigma, along with gender equality issues;
- Providing workshops on energy efficient/smokeless stoves;
- Providing educational scholarships for underprivileged children;
- Providing improved housing
The Foundation’s intention is to train local staff to run the Darjeeling Project programs so that eventually their involvement will be minimal or altogether unnecessary, achieving their goal of sustainability.
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