Patna: AIDS Awareness Camps in City Schools and Colleges

[Guest guest]

AIDS awareness camps in city schools

15 Sep 2007, 0209 hrs IST,TNN

PATNA: The Regional Aids Training Centre and Network in India (RATNEI) and the

Rotary Club of Patliputra on Friday signed an MoU to conduct a series of

HIV/AIDS awareness programmes in various schools, colleges and institutions

here.

RATNEI medical director Dr Diwakar Tejaswi, said there were a lot of

misconceptions among the youth about HIV/AIDS. Youth are the most vulnerable

section of the society so much so that about 30 per cent of the HIV/AIDS

patients are between 15 to 29 years of age. This is an age when a person

undergoes a lot of hormonal changes which drives him/her towards sexual

activities, he said.

Being financially sound they can easily afford to indulge in commercial sex, he

said. " It is very important to educate them about the ABC of HIV/Aids, where A

stands for abstinence from sexual activities before marriage, B stands for be

faithful to your partner and C stands for condoms if one indulges in a sexual

act with a stranger, " he said.

Dr Tejaswai said we need to talk openly about the use of condoms and promote its

use among youth so that they can get rid of their inhibitions and clear their

doubts about the disease. President of the Rotary Club of Patliputra Anil Sharaf

appreciated the work done by RATNEI. He added that the Rotary Club of Patliputra

with the technical support of RATNEI will begin the awareness programme on

Saturday itself at the NCC headquarters where 300 NCC cadets will be apprised of

different aspects of the disease.

The schools and colleges, which are interested in conducting awareness

programmes for their students, can contact Dr Tejaswi at 0612-2586788 and

9835078298 and Anil Sharaf at 9334386910.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Patna/AIDS_awareness_camps_in_city_sch\

ools/articleshow/2370735.cms