Nepal is to stage Asia’s first ever multi-sport games for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community,

The two-week event at the national football stadium and other venues around Kathmandu will feature Nepali participants in track and field, volleyball, football, martial arts and tennis, event has been organized by the Blue Diamond Society, Nepal’s leading gay rights group.

"Renowned and respected Nepali athletes will support as coaches and referees for the program," said organizer Sunil Pant, the country’s only openly gay MP said in a statement.

Asia already stages the "Asia-Pacific Outgames", another multi-sport gay event, but this has only been hosted by New Zealand and Australia. Nepal’s version which is due to take place in late September will be the first in Asia.

"The aims for organizing the Blue Diamond National Sport Competition 2012 are to mainstream LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people) into the larger society, promote healthy lifestyles, encourage physical fitness, and promote health mentally and spiritually," said Pant.

Nepal is a conservative, Hindu country which nonetheless has some of the most progressive policies on homosexuality in Asia. A landmark 2007 court ruling ordered the government to enact laws guaranteeing the rights of gays.

Source: http://www.dayagainsthomophobia.org

The Bhagavad Gita or "Song of the Lord" is a discourse with Krishna, who symbolizes the universal Cosmic Christ, the universal force of love and compassion that incarnated in all teh greatest beings of humanity: Jesus, Krishna, Moses, Buddha, Quetzalcoatl, Fu Ji, Amida, Hermes, and more. Christ as Krishna advises Arjuna, who symbolizes the Human Soul (the universal hero: Theseus, Perseus, Siegfried, Lancelot, Orpheus, etc). This discourse is extracted from the longer Mahabharata, or "Great Warrior."

 

Support for integration reproductive health services has been growing worldwide since its endorsement at the 1994 ICPD. Given that, the call for HIV and FP integration services has also gained its pace. Numerous organizations working on the development of health has also been advocating on this issue.

However, the promise on integrated HIV and PF services to be implemented is yet very far. Clinics, Hpspitals and health care centers are not so far practising the comprehensive reproductive health care that integrates HIV prevention and family planning sevices. In Nepal, 33% are still deprived of the proper family planning services and well above 7500 people live with HIV(UNAIDS)

This has been adversely affecting on the comprehensive information services to the young people. Young people living with HIV are still not getting the proper counselling on the contraceptivr methods. Nevertheless, there are also few clinics which stand apart. For example, the clinic run by Family planning association of Nepal(FPAN) demonstrate a global a global trend in women's health care. Comprehensive reproductive health care that integrates STI prevention and treatment into long estlablished and better funded family palnning and maternity  child health services.

All together, Nepal, like some other developing country, needs to gain its pace in th integration of HIV and FP services. these programs have historically been underfunded and poorly resoursed. Its time to invest in operations research to answer a number of important questions. policy makers and program manager need to know how much it costs to add STI prevention and treatment to family planning services, how such integration affects clients use and whether it improves the quality of all reproductive health services. Research is needed to identify the best approaches to STI prevention and treatment education in clinics. And in settings where full integration is not possible, program managers need to determine the most viable options for referrals.

Reference:
FPAN, UNAIDS

International Women’s Day is today, the 8th day of Women’s History month.

What does it mean to have an International Women’s Day?

Well, first of all, it means more than getting a Google Doodle. Although, it really is a cute one that incorporates the symbol for the female gender and a flower into Google’s logo.

International Women’s Day has been observed since the early 1900’s, when it began as a tribute to striking garment workers in New York City. Now it is observed annually on March 8th to celebrate women.

Women have taken great strides throughout history, but the past century has been one of turbulent change. Yes, women received the right to vote, Katherine Hepburn and Mary Tyler Moore made pants popular for women, and the 80s bred a new species: the power woman.

But International Women’s Day is about more than those small victories.

Thanks to Rush Limbaugh’s recent rants about law student Sandra Fluke, in which he called her a “slut” and a “prostitute”, women in the United States are thinking a little more carefully about their role in our culture today. Despite the strides we’ve taken, are we equal?

There are still glaring inequalities between the sexes. Of the 793 million illiterate people in the world, two-thirds are female, even though it has been realized that educating girls is one of the most powerful and effective ways to address global poverty. Women are not equally represented in business and government, and there is still that pay gap that refuses to close.

Don’t worry, ladies. We do have a lot to celebrate on International Women’s Day. Not just the achievements of our mothers, grandmothers, and the women before them, but also the things we are doing right now. More women than ever are graduating from MBA programs, which should help move us closer to gender equity in business.

International Women’s Day is not as prominent in the United States as it is in other countries. In Armenia, many people get the day off of work, and in China only the women get the day off. It is called International Women’s Day, after all.

The United Nations declared an overall International Women’s Day theme, “Empower Rural Women—End Hunger and Poverty,” but many organizations and governments develop their own themes that are more relevant to their locales.

No, women have not won every battle yet. But on International Women’s Day we can celebrate the achievements we’ve made, and consider how we can ensure that our daughters and our daughters’ daughters can live in a more gender-equal world.

Article credit: http://www.collegenews.com

First of all, Happy International Women’s day 2012. Let’s celebrate this day thinking about the contribution and effort of women to bring peace and prosperity in the world. I too wanna think about women who has brought lots of positive changes in me and always have inspired me to do something better than myself. I guess this short poem below can describe better;

'She'
Maybe the reason I survive,
the why and where for I'm alive,
the one I'll care for through the rough and rainy years,
I'll take her laughter and her tears,
and make them all my souvenirs,
for where she goes I got to be,
the meaning of my life is
She, she and she..

She’s my mother, my sister, my cousins, my friends and my well-wishers. We can never deny a fact that whoever we are, male or female or transgender, rich or poor- women have definitely changed our life in some way or other. I may not solve every problems faced by women in a single day but I will continue my efforts to bring positive change for the betterment of every women of this world.

We all owe our lives to a woman.

A hale and hearty people will be more successful in adapting/justifying climate change and climate protection. There is rising indication that addressing Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights issues can increase flexibility to climate change and slow population trends that worsen poverty and climate change impacts, empower young people to exercise their rights and contribute to achieving a more sustainable world. When people enjoy reasonable Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), they can actively contribute to environmental sustainability. An unhealthy environment leads to deteriorating health status in the population. So, it shows that relationship can go both ways. Governments have committed to delivering these services through a number of international agreements. Rio +20 might be yet another milestone in signing bundles of more treaties. Government delegates must also understand the importance of the signed treaty. However, only signing the agreement is never gonna take us any further without any action. What we need now is the action. It’s the responsibility of young people to convince leaders to take action; and that there is an forthcoming threat to this and future generations’ survival and development.

Being the only council member left in the Youth Activists Leadership Council (YALC) from Nepal, I was very much nervous and exited at the same time to meet and know the new council members. Well, I never guessed that I will again be meeting some super-talented and kick ass activists! The new 9 activists choosen from hundreds of application and workshop were really impressive during the iYSO training. Everybody got their indivual strength and were awesome team players.
This year too, YALC has set up 2 policy objective for the year 2012. The first objective is to enhance meaningful youth involvement in different national and international decision making bodies regarding youth SRHR issues by December 2012 and the second one is to amend the EPH (Environment Population and Health) curriculum to be age appropriate and comprehensive by December 2012. We have designed some awesome campeigns and events to meet the objectives. I really hope the energy stays till the end. i wish all the best for the new coulcil member. AND yes! tomorrow is out first meeting, I'm exited to meet kick ass activists! :)

Despite the fact that HIV and AIDS has been one of the biggest problem in the world, Nepal, However has been able to reduce the HIV rate since last 10 years. Currently the decreasing rate of HIV in Nepal is 30% which is even better than the global scenario. Globally, The HIV rate has been decreasing at 20%. This data maybe intresting for the people working in the same field over the years. We can definitely assume that thousands of INGO's and NGO's working has contributed in this achievement. Nevertheless, we cannot forget the effort of government  to reduce the HIV rate in Nepal. Most of the HIV awareness program designed in Nepal are preventive, that might also be one of the major factor in the rate depreciation. Well, this does not mean we have achieved everything. We shouldl continue to reduce the rate and encourage the people working in the field of HIV and AIDS. Lets hope someday, world will be free of HIV and AIDS. :)

Increase in awareness level of general public and targeted intervention in the highest-risk-of-infection category have brought down the estimated number of people living with HIV/AIDS in Nepal to 55,626, according to the National Center for Aids and STD Control (NCASC) under the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP).

NCASC, which calculates the number by including the number of actually infected people and estimated projection of those living with infection but untested, claimed that decrease in new infection of HIV/AIDS this year also means that the number of infected people who have not been tested must also have gone down.


NCASC has started to use Estimation and Projection Package (EPP) software for projection of estimated population living with HIV/AIDS since 2009, which provides greater accuracy in projection. NCASC says that World Health Organization, UNAIDS and other global partners are also involved in the estimation process.

"Refined data comes with the new and advanced software," Program Coordinator of NCASC Rajan Bhattarai said. He, however, conceded that NCASC still does not have the tools to ensure that a single person is not registered as infected at two or more places.

NCASC, which is preparing to make the data public, estimates that only 55,626 people infected with the virus are currently living across the country, with 4,716 of those under 15 years in age, 47,645 between 15-49 years and the rest are 50 years old or above. The estimated number was around 70,000 for nearly a decade till two years ago. Last year, NCASC put the estimated number at just over 64,000.

"We have been successful in reducing the rate of new infection by around 30 percent in the last 10 years, which is significantly better than the global average of 20 percent," Director of NCASC Dr Ramesh Kharel stated.

He claimed that HIV prevention campaign of the government is producing significant results. "AIDS epidemic has been halted in Nepal. The programs targeted in HIV sectors have helped us achieve such success," he added.

The prevalence rate of infection in the sexually active population of 15-49 years, that was 0.40 percent in 2004-2005, has also dropped to 0.33 percent this year, according to NCASC official Deepak Karki. Nepal has to bring down the prevalence rate to 0.30 by 2015 to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

According to NCASC, 18,535 cases of HIV infection have been registered across the country till date through blood tests. Among them, 11,964 are male and 6,571 are female. But NCASC has not adjusted the number of persons who may have died due to the disease. Last year, 16,262 people were registered in HIV infected list, in which 10, 569 were male and 5, 693 were female.

The surveys conducted by NCASC has shown that sex-workers have also increasingly practised safe sexual behaviors such as correct and consistent use of condoms in recent times.

NCASC said that more people are living longer and AIDS-related deaths are declining as access to treatment has expanded with over 5,000 people enrolling for ART treatment.

Published on 2011-11-17 at The Republica Daily

In the Kathmandu Valley, I was on my way home when a foreign visitor asked me about the sex symbols crafted on a temple. I had seen those symbols long before in different temples of the valley but was eager to know more about them only when the visitor asked me. Obviously, anyone would be eager to hear and know about them. This was the same case with me when I saw sex symbols in different temples that were crafted around 300 to 400 years ago during the time of the Lichhavi kings.

Many visitors from around the world take pictures of these temples. We have the concept that temples are holy places and places of respect.

According to the Tantrik Bidhi, these crafted arts symbolize real life. Religiously, people believe this art helped to control natural disasters like thunder, earthquakes and lightning around the premises.


Dr. Dinesh Bhuju of RONAST (Royal Nepal Academy of Science and Technology) said of the sex symbols, “Production in the agricultural sector during those periods was high, as was the death rate. A large number of people died from different diseases like diarrhea and smallpox, as medicine was usually unavailable. So to maintain the population, these types of symbols were used in the temples as a holy deed.”

He also said there was no medium of communication. These art works delivered the message of sex education to people who were unaware of the importance of generational continuity in society.

In some of the books written by foreign writers about the crafted arts, they labeled the temples as “erotic.” For example, we can take the temple of “Jagannath” which is located in the heart of the tourist center Basantapur, (a world heritage site.) This temple was built around 1562 during the period of Mahendra Malla, where more than 64 sex symbols were made.

The temple is a place of respect, according to our tradition and culture. We all have faith in all the temples of God, but hearing and reading such words of a foreign visitor really makes it clear that they have not understood our art and culture to the deepest extent. Without knowing the reality and the core matter, foreign people and magazines write about these matters. But no action is shown by the government.

Beauty depends upon the viewers, in the same way that art has its own language in the way we view it. People looking with the wrong concept see the temple art as pornography while artists define it as a great masterpiece.

(Credit reporter: mr. Bishnu K.C )