Govt; is for a national action plan on HIV/AIDS

[Guest guest]

GOM FAVOURS A NATIONAL ACTION PLAN ON HIV/AIDS

Press release. Wednesday, October 27, 2004. Ministry of Human Resource

Development

The Group of Ministers (GoM) on HIV / AIDS was unanimous today on the

need for bringing out a National Action Plan to spread awareness and

to develop a multi-sectoral approach to prevent rise in infection of

this deadly disease. The Plan is expected to be given shape by

December 1, 2004, the World AIDS Day. The meeting was attended by the

Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss, the

Minister for Information & Broadcasting and Culture, Shri Jaipal

Reddy, the Minister for Rural Development, Dr. Raghuvans Prasad Singh,

the Minister for Labour and Employment, Shri Sis Ram Ola, the Minister

for Social Justice and Empowerment, Smt. Meira Kumar and was presided

over by the Human Resource Development Minister, Shri Arjun Singh,

here today.

Describing HIV/AIDS as a menacing problem, Shri Arjun Singh said that

he would take up the issue of including the subject in the curriculum,

with the State Education Ministers at a meeting which is being held

here tomorrow.

Giving a dismal picture of the spread of HIV/AIDS in the country, Dr.

Ramadoss said that while in 1986 the first HIV positive case was

detected in India, the figure has now soared to 5.1 million in a span

of 18 years. This is the second highest figure in the world after

South Africa. He called for a multi-sectoral approach to stem the rise

in infection and underlined the need for including health education in

curriculum for building awareness. He said role models and famous

personalities should be used to popularize the use of condoms. Use of

condoms will serve the dual purpose of birth control and prevention

against any sexually transmitted disease, he said.

The Information & Broadcasting Minister, Shri Jaipal Reddy said that

the electronic media can play a major role in spreading awareness

among the target groups. He said AIR and Doordarshan will join in a

big way in this national endeavour. Shri Reddy said sustained

publicity has to be carried out to get the message across. As many

truck drivers of National Highways have been found to be having

unprotected sex, Shri Reddy suggested that petrol pumps on the

National Highways should have condom vending machines. He also said

that the Government is contemplating of inserting a clause in the

contract of private FM radio stations to devote a certain amount of

airtime for health and social welfare messages, when the licenses come

for renewal.

The Labour and Employment Minister, Shri Sis Ram Ola said that his

Ministry will include the topic of HIV / AIDS in the training manual

of all the Industrial Training Institutes.

The Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, Smt. Meira Kumar said

that a large number of NGOs under the aegis of her Ministry are

already working towards the spreading awareness about HIV/ AIDS and

running Drug De-Addiction Centres.

The GOM decided to meet at regular intervals to bring about better

coordination amongst various Ministries. Senior officials of the

Ministries of Human Resource Development, Health and Family Welfare,

Labour and Employment, Social Justice and Empowerment, Information &

Broadcasting, Rural Development and the Department of Women and Child

Development attended the meeting.

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