Eastern states still low on AIDS awareness: NACO

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Eastern states still low on AIDS awareness: Report

The Indian Express 16th January, 2002-New Delhi

TEN YEARS after the country launched the ambitious National AIDS Control

Programme, the level of awareness about the killer disease is still pretty low,

especially in the eastern states.This has been admitted by none other than

National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), an autonomous body under the Ministry

of Health and Family Welfare.

While 76.1 per cent of the population is believed to have ever heard of HIV and

AIDS, the percentage is lower in the eastern states, with Bihar figuring at the

bottom of the list with just 40.3 per cent awareness.

Equally bad is Uttar Pradesh (50.6 per cent) and Gujarat (55.7) while West

Bengal too is much below the national average with just 58.2 per cent aware of

diseases known as AIDS.

When it comes to various means of preventing the disease, the eastern states are

again on the wrong side, with only 29.5 per cent of the respondent in Bihar

saying they knew AIDS could be prevented by use of condoms.

West Bengal too figures poorly in this aspect with only 31.1 per cent of the

respondents in a nationwide survey admitting they were aware that consistent

condom use could prevent AIDS.

Also poor is Orissa's status with just 37 per cent saying so, while Assam too

figured poorly with just 49.9 per cent saying yes to condom. Incidentally,

though 76.1 per cent of respondent's nation-wide said they heard of AIDS, only

58.9 per cent of them at the national level said they thought condom use could

prevent AIDS.

Also poor is Orissa's status with just 37 per cent saying so, while Assam too

figured poorly with just 49.9 per cent saying yes to condom. Incidentally,

though 76.1 per cent of respondents nation-wide said they had heard of AIDS,

only 58.9 per cent of them at the national level said they thought condoms could

prevent AIDS. Similar is the awareness level as far as needle sharing as a mode

of transmitting AIDS is concerned, with Bihar and West Bengal figuring last in

the all-India list of awareness. While only 37.6 per cent of the Bihar

respondents knew needle sharing could transmit AIDS, the level of awareness in

West Bengal stood at 49.1 against the all-India awareness of 71.2 per cent.

When asked whether they knew AIDS could be prevented by having one faithful

uninfected sex partner, only 30.2 per cent of respondents in Bihar said yes. In

West Bengal, it was 31.1, while Orissa came a close third from the bottom with

38.2 per cent. Even in the northeastern states, where the alarm bells have

already started ringing over the high rates of infection, the awareness level

was only 41.2, with the sole exception of Manipur.

In what is one of the worst AIDS-affected states, 71.4 per cent of the

respondents said they were aware of safe sex, against the national average of 57

per cent.

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Jagdish Harsh ( jharsh@... )

François-Xavier Bagnoud (INDIA) ( www.fxb.org )

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