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Students' `banner of revolt' against HIV/AIDS

Deepa H Ramakrishnan

Bharathidasan College for Women inaugurates Red Ribbon Club

WORD OF HONOUR: Students of Bharathidasan Government College for Women sign on a long banner pledging themselves to work for HIV/AIDS prevention in Puducherry . — Photo: T. Singaravelou

PUDUCHERRY: It took them just two days to fill in a long banner with their signatures. The students of Bharathidasan Government College for Women pledged themselves to work to check the spread of HIV/AIDS by signing the cloth banner.

The banner was hung at the inauguration of the Red Ribbon Club at the college on Tuesday.

Puducherry AIDS Control Society's Project Director Gilbert Fernandes urged the students to donate blood voluntarily. He said around 10 years ago, blood was not donated but was given on payment. But over the years, people's attitude had changed. "If you are over 18 years, don't have any communicable disease and are over 48 kgs you can donate blood. The Red Ribbon Club has two agendas and voluntary blood donation is one of them."

He explained that HIV/AIDS could spread in four ways — blood transfusion, unsafe sex, infected needles and from mother to baby in the womb. He said there were a total of 8,400 HIV positive persons in Puducherry and, of them, only 300 suffered from AIDS. But these figures, he said, were arrived at from a total of 1.5 lakh people who had come forward for voluntary blood testing.

Dr. Gilbert said there were 10 blood banks for the 11 lakh population in the Union Territory and that it was mandatory to check the blood collected before it was given to patients. The blood samples were also tested for HIV/AIDS and for diseases like Tuberculosis and Hepatitis. So there was no danger of HIV/AIDS being passed on by blood transfusion, he added.

Dr. Gilbert said medicines were available to help prevent infections being passed on from mothers to their children and that the programme was on at the Maternity Hospital and at the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research.

"Earlier, we used to advice patients with HIV/AIDS not to marry or have sex after marriage. But now we don't restrict them. They can marry and we are able to safeguard the future generation from contracting HIV/AIDS."

He said 95 percent of positive HIV cases in Puducherry were caused due to unsafe sex. Urging the students not to commit adultery or have sex before marriage, he said they could, if necessary, take a blood test before marriage.

College Principal Kumuda said there were a total of 51 members and one coordinator in the club.

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