The Hindu : Karnataka News : Scheme to help bring smiles on the faces of HIV-affected

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Friday, Oct 12, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka

Scheme to help bring smiles on the faces of HIV-affected

M. Ahiraj

BDAPS will arrange for loans to help them take up jobs

Bellary has been chosen because of the high number of HIV, AIDS cases
The project is being implemented in 398 villages in the district

BELLARY: The Bellary District AIDS Prevention Society (BDAPS), in association with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), is all set to bring smiles on the faces of people affected by HIV and AIDS and their families in the district.

The BDAPS, which has been set up with the Deputy Commissioner as the chairman to monitor the Coordinated HIV/AIDS Response through Capacity Building (CHARCA) Project sponsored by the UNDP, has come out with a novel scheme of economic empowerment of HIV/AIDS-infected and their families by arranging for bank loans to take up various jobs and lead a decent life.

The project, a joint UN collaboration project for reducing vulnerabilities for sexually transmitted infections (STI) and HIV/AIDS among young people aged between 13 and 25 with special focus on women, is being implemented in 398 villages in the seven taluks of the district since August 2004.

Bellary is the only district in the State and among six in the country where the project is being implemented due to the high incidence of HIV/AIDS. Under the programme, various information, education and communication (IEC) activities are taken up to improve the life-style of the infected, provide them with healthcare and also help capacity building.

Thanks to the initiative taken by Deputy Commissioner Arvind Srivastav, the UNDP has agreed to sanction Rs. 30 lakh for the scheme. Mr. Srivastav has persuaded the bankers to give a matching grant in the form of loan.

The bankers were initially apprehensive of lending to HIV/AIDS-infected on the ground that their life span was short which would affect recovery.

A detailed explanation that AIDS patients were now able to live long due to the availability of effective drugs helped bring about a change in the bankers’ heart.

To start with, it has been planned to arrange for loan facilities to 250 to 400 HIV/AIDS victims in the district to take up various vocations, including dairying, provision stores, cloth trading, vegetable and fruits vending and the like besides supporting the existing skills among the infected.

The main idea behind the proposed scheme was to integrate the infected persons into the mainstream and eradicate discrimination in society.

“If the affected and their families, for example, decide to take up dairying, arrangements will be made to ensure that they get a loan of Rs. 30,000. Besides, they are made part of the existing milk producers’ society and the milk is procured by KMF,” Mr. Srivastav told The Hindu.

According to an estimate, there were 20,000 HIV patients in the district, of which 1,700 have become members of Nityajeevana, a non-government organisation.

The process of identifying the affected people’s families to help them take up self-employment and improve their economic condition has begun and a list is being prepared which would be sent to the departments concerned to arrange for loans.

So far, 106 people have come forward to make use of the new scheme in Hospet and Bellary taluks and all efforts would be made to implement the scheme at the earliest, according to Jayakumar, coordinator of BDAPS.

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