Kolkata,: AIDS aid for IT sector

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Govt plans AIDS aid for IT sector

Sector identified as vulnerable to spread of HIV/AIDS; project will

assess sexual habits of workforce and their lifestyle

Ravik Bhattacharya

Kolkata, January 22: The state government has zeroed in on a new

target audience for its HIV awareness campaign: The IT and ITeS

sector, hailed as Bengal's sunrise sector.

The state health and IT departments have joined hands for what is

meant to be the first-ever and largest intervention programmes in the

sector. A meeting is scheduled next week between officials of the two

departments.

The project — including awareness, interaction, survey, treatment —

will involve the IT sector at Salt Lake's Sector V and other centres

in Kolkata. Around 45,000 IT professionals, BPO executives and

software engineers will be covered.

According to officials of the state health department, the project

comes at a time when the sector has already been identified

as " vulnerable to the spread of HIV/AIDS " . One of the aims of the

projects is to gauge and assess the sexual habits of the workforce

and their lifestyle — pinpointing the extent of vulnerability to the

disease.

" This is one of the sectors where a large number of young people are

working and the numbers are growing, therefore the project, which

stresses on awareness, will go a long way, " said Siddharth, state IT

secretary. " We have received a letter from the state health

department regarding the project and the first meeting is scheduled

soon... we are all for it, " he added.

Rajendra Shukla, special secretary of the state health department and

director of West Bengal State HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control

Society, said: " There is a need for such projects in the sector. We

will be able to gauge the vulnerability of the personnel through it. "

According to health officials, a project involving sex-workers

frequenting Salt Lake's Sector V is already running with the help of

an NGO, School of Human Genetics and Population, since last June. The

project covered 250 flying sex workers, many of whom have customers

from the IT sector in Salt Lake.

" The employees of IT and ITeS services have a stressful life and most

are youngsters. Such groups are vulnerable to the disease, though

they belong to educated classes. Through our present project outside

the offices, we are able to cater to one part of the problem. However

there is a need to work within the offices, " said a highly placed

health department officer.

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