Rural India plans to step up fight against AIDS

	Tweet

Local leaders from across rural India are to draw up an action plan to help stem the spread of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in villages, where the majority of new infections are occurring, officials said on Monday.

AIDS agencies say that of the 5.2 million people infected between the ages of 15 and 49 years in India, almost 60 percent are in rural communities, where poverty, ignorance and gender disparities have left people more vulnerable to the disease.

They add that village and district administrators have the power to spread awareness at the grassroots. 

"AIDS is a disease of intimacy. It has to do with the things which are most hidden and most personal, which are not easily addressed at the level of the country’s capital,” Denis Broun, UNAIDS country coordinator for India, told a news conference.

“It is very important to come closer to the people and this is the reason why there is an important movement in getting the engagement of these people who are closest to the population and who are their immediate representatives,” he said.

Broun said representatives from 620 districts, as well and mayors and other community leaders, would come together for the first time at a convention on Tuesday to draw up a strategy on how India could strengthen its local response to the pandemic.

In India, elected rural councils known as “panchayats” are entrusted with managing community services, public health and family welfare.

“This convention is about garnering political leadership towards a cause,” said Sujatha Rao, director general of the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO).

“They are the ones who set the pace and influence opinions in their respective constituencies and districts,” she added.

Rao said community leaders could talk out against discrimination against those infected with HIV/AIDS, help promote the use of condoms and in some cases decide to make HIV/AIDS a priority when allocating funds from local budgets. 

RELATED STORIES:
FDA Advisory Panel Approves Home HIV Test Kit   FDA Approves New In-Home HIV Test   Home HIV test advances   Survey Reveals Support for Over-the Counter HIV Testing   F.D.A. Panel Weighs Preventive Use of H.I.V. Drug   Stem Cell Therapy Shows Promise in Fight Against HIV   Progress against HIV thwarted by patients’ unmet needs   California to test pill for HIV prevention   Mechanism of HIV spread has potential for future drug therapy   Seeking HIV treatment clues in the neem tree   HIV Prevention Pill’s Value Varies by Target   Using AIDS drugs to prevent infection: a bargain?

Comments

[ + Post Your Own ]

Now you're in the public comment zone. What follows is not Armenian Medical Network's stuff; it comes from other people and we don't vouch for it. A reminder: By using this Web site you agree to accept our Terms of Service. Click here to read the Rules of Engagement.

There are no comments for this entry yet. [ + Comment here + ]