The Hindu : Front Page : Communication campaign on AIDS

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 16, 2005

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Communication campaign on AIDS

K. Jeshi

MOVEMENT LAUNCHED: Students perform a skit on HIV/AIDS at the inauguration of Sangamam campaign in the city. - Photo: M. Periasamy

Coimbatore: Do you have it? Say yes or no. If yes, there is help available. "Know your HIV/AIDS status and care and support and treatment available thereafter" is the objective of a District Level Communication Campaign on HIV that is being launched from Coimbatore district, the pioneer in the State, from Thursday.

Workers of NGOs will visit high-risk individuals during this door-to-door campaign, chat with them and educate them on HIV, which has infected an estimated six million people in the country. Truckers, migrant labour population, commercial sex workers and their partners, pregnant mothers and hidden groups come under the high-risk category. The secondary target will be HIV infected people, their family and friends. The idea is to move towards district level campaigns since the national and State level campaigns have failed to reach the grassroots, says Pushparaj of APAC - VHS.

Chennai-based APAC- VHS, or, Aids Prevention and Control Project- Voluntary Health Services, has chosen Coimbatore for its new approach bringing together the District administration, local Faith Based Organisations (FBOs), NGOs and youth groups.

"Coimbatore district is taken up for pre-testing this new approach and set up a replicable model for district campaigns. This can be replicated across the country with minor alterations on region specific basis," he says. The district is considered for the campaign for reasons like presence of major chunks of migrant and mobile labour, homogenous mix of urban, rural and tribal areas and presence of HIV/AIDS related services and service providers. The district will be covered in 27 units - 19 blocks, four municipalities (Tirupur, Pollachi, Mettupalayam and Udumalpet) and four zones of the Coimbatore Corporation, which approximately covers 200 villages and 100 wards. Initially, the model will be replicated in Erode, Namakkal, Karur and Salem districts of Tamil Nadu that share a cultural pattern with Coimbatore. Shanti Ashram, an NGO based at Kovaipudur, has already launched Sangamam, which is part of this larger campaign focussing on engaging religious leadership across the districts. "Youth and children provide leadership for the campaign. Apart from SMSing people on HIV on World AIDS Day (December 1), they will set up info booths in places of worship and distribute pamphlets in public places, banks and railway stations. Cultural events also form part of the campaign," says Vinu Aram, director of Shanti Ashram.

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