HIV / AIDS Awareness Programme
AIDS/HIV – It’s not the END of LIFE
India is one of the largest and most populated countries in the world, with over one billion inhabitants. Unlike developed countries, India lacks the scientific laboratories, research facilities, equipment, and medical personnel to deal with an AIDS epidemic. In addition, factors such as cultural taboos against discussion of sexual practices, poor coordination between local health authorities and their communities, widespread poverty and malnutrition, and a lack of capacity to test and store blood would severely hinder the ability of the Government to control AIDS if the disease did become widespread.
In 2006 UNAIDS estimated that there were 5.6 million people living with HIV in India, which indicated that there were more people with HIV in India than in any other country in the world.17 In 2007, following the first survey of HIV among the general population, UNAIDS and NACO agreed on a new estimate – between 2 million and 3.1 million people living with HIV.18
In 2008 the figure was confirmed to be 2.5 million,19 which equates to a prevalence of 0.3%. While this may seem a low rate, because India’s population is so large, it is third in the world in terms of greatest number of people living with HIV. With a population of around a billion, a mere 0.1% increase in HIV prevalence would increase the estimated number of people living with HIV by over half a million.
In India there is a serious stigma attached to those infected with HIV/AIDS. People have limited knowledge about HIV/AIDS; many impoverished people in India are not educated enough to understand the causes of AIDS and how it is transmitted. People who become infected are often excluded from their own family’s home and from society. Our organization is working to improve HIV/AIDS awareness, education, and care of HIV-infected patients. Our goal is to foster awareness of the disease and work to change attitudes and behavior towards those unfortunate enough to be infected.
These are our activities:
• Counseling HIV-positive people and their families
• Provide guidance for Treatment of HIV-positive patients
• Demonstrating and training about HIV/Aids awareness activities
• Some vocational program for the patients
Volunteers in this project with us are responsible for a variety of tasks:
• Teaching awareness activities to truck drivers, women and children
• Demonstrating of contraceptives; condoms, etc
• Counseling activities
• Skill-sharing and training activities
• Rendering help in treatment (trained volunteers with a health care background only)
• Helping to prepare and present educational programs
• Any related help requested by local organizations; report writing, date collection, etc.