The Hindu : National : AIDS council may endorse draft gender, HIV policy

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Wednesday, Jun 25, 2008
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AIDS council may endorse draft gender, HIV policy

Aarti Dhar

NEW DELHI: The National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) has sought time from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to chair the second meeting of the National Council on AIDS (NCA), which is likely to endorse the draft Gender and HIV Policy.

The first meeting, in February 2006, drew the road map for mainstreaming the HIV component into policies and programmes of the government, corporate and civil society organisations.

The government also plans to make jobs mandatory to HIV-positive people under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme and one question on HIV/AIDS compulsory in all board examinations. A pension scheme for HIV-positive widows is another plan.

STD treatment in prisons

Among the government’s major initiatives include providing treatment for sexually transmitted infections in prisons that would require amendments to jail manuals for supply of condoms, mandatory training of Station House Officers and above in HIV/AIDS and care and support to people living with HIV and their families, and rehabilitation measures.

As part of phase III of the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP), it has been decided to provide a larger impetus to mainstreaming. Accordingly, a formal structure is in place, including a central mainstreaming cell at the NACO that has been engaging government agencies, business sector and civil society organisations to adopt HIV interventions in their places of work.

Workplace policy coming

A national workplace policy, a joint initiative of the NACO and the Ministry of Labour and Employment, is being finalised.

The NACO has deployed a consultant each in the ministries of Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Tourism and Urban Development to establish mainstreaming units for identifying entry points in schemes for HIV/AIDS interventions.

Similarly, mainstreaming units, staffed by specialists, have been established in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Orissa and Chhattisgarh for focussed interventions at various levels. State Councils on AIDS have also been established in 22 States and Union Territories that work with State AIDS Control Societies for mainstreaming HIV interventions.

Multisectoral response

Constituted in 2005, the NCA aims at facilitating multisectoral response to the epidemic, making HIV a development challenge and not merely a public health problem. It is chaired by the Prime Minister and comprises 31 ministries, seven Chief Ministers and leading corporate and civil society representatives.

All government ministries and departments are expected to develop a HIV/AIDS sub-plan, establish a dedicated HIV mainstreaming cell, adopt and implant the HIV workplace policy in the ministries, departments and public sector undertakings, and incorporate HIV components in the training plans while disseminating and displaying information at work sites.

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