The Hindu : New Delhi News : A novel way to spread AIDS awareness

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 19, 2007
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New Delhi

New Delhi

A novel way to spread AIDS awareness

NOBLE CAUSE: Plan India Community children

In a joint endeavour, Plan India and the Department for International Development (DFID) have used the creative skills of children to spread awareness about the pandemic.

The skills of children, the most innocent victims of the disease, were used to prepare animation films, comics, puppets and computer games that formed the HIV/AIDS Awareness Package (HAAP). Multimedia technology and traditional methodology were combined to make the HAAP material that was distributed among children in difficult circumstances and the general community at Sangam Vihar in South Delhi this past Monday. The HAAP-IEC (Information, Education and Communication) kit has material like lesson plans, comic strips, animation films and messages that seek to tell children about the dreaded disease in an engaging manner. "Of the 5.2 million HIV infected people in the country, about 0.64 million are children below 14 years of age. The HAAP kits are simple and user-friendly, designed by children for their fellow children to talk about the problem that largely remains a sensitive issue and a taboo for people in India," says Bhagyashri Dengle, Executive Director of Plan India. -- P. Anima

-- P. Anima

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