Targeting rural and tribal youth for HIV/AIDS awareness

[Guest guest]

Targeting rural and tribal youth for HIV/AIDS awareness

Kalyan Singh Kothari, OneWorld South Asia, 05 December 2007

Jaipur: A workshop, " Dissemination Workshop on HIV/AIDS Care and

Prevention Programme for Rural and Tribal Youth in India " , was

organised in Jaipur last month by VIHAN - Society for Child

Development and Education in Rajasthan in association with Oxfam

India and European Commission.

Delegates from various parts of the country, including 50

representatives from NGO sector of Rajasthan participated in the

workshop. They were apprised of action plans implemented at the

grassroots and experiences of activists working among the HIV-

infected people. An exhibition of relevant publications and

photographs was also organised on the occasion.

The workshop highlighted the programme initiated to address needs of

high-risk groups such as men who have sex with men (MSM). About 1.3

lakh of the 6.5 lakh people, reportedly practicing homosexuality in

Rajasthan, constitute a high-risk group. It was noted that the

targeted intervention was covering less than one per cent of

homosexuals and eunuchs.

Participants said that preliminary mapping of homosexuals and eunuchs

carried out by the Rajasthan AIDS Control Society in 2005 should be

used to properly assess their sexual health needs and facilitate

implementation of targeted programmes.

Country director (Programme and Development) and Kolkatta Office

director of Solidarity and Action Against the HIV Infection in India

(SAATHII), Pawan Dhall said that primary focus of the workshop would

be on ways to dispel the social stigma that hounds HIV/AIDS victims

and their families.

Disclosing a study on homosexuals and eunuchs in Rajasthan carried

out by SAATHII, Dhall said that the situational analysis had found

that male-to-male sex in Rajasthan had a significant historical

perspective and was far more common in both urban and rural areas

than indicated by previous studies.

A multi-state study in 2004 of homosexual activity among rural Indian

men aged 18-40 years had found 9.5% of single and 3.1% of married

respondents having same sex encounters in the past year. If this data

were extrapolated to the entire rural male population in the given

age bracket in Jalore district, the number of MSM would far exceed

the population of 1,400 mapped by the Rajasthan State Aids Control

Society (RSACS) study for the whole state in 2005.

Dhall said to OneWorld South Asia that special attention was needed

towards homosexual and Hijra youth, who were sexually more active. In

rural Rajasthan sexual initiation is common also because of early

marriages.

Dhall also pointed out that mining industry in Rajasthan employed a

large number of migrants and should be considered as key stakeholders

in the HIV response strategy for both migrant and MSM, Hijra and

other transgender population.

M.L. Jain, director of Public Health of Government of Rajasthan, said

the prevalence of HIV infection unless controlled immediately, would

take away a major chunk of budgetary allocation for the health sector

in Rajasthan.

VIHAN coordinator Dr Kumkum Srivastava, throwing light on a project

executed with the support of European Union in Bharatpur and

Chittorgarh districts, said training programmes were organised for

14,000 elected representatives of panchayats and government officials

to make them sensitive to the needs of AIDS patients.

Dr Rajiv Dua, Global HIV/AIDS programme advisor of Oxfam, said that

the mass communication campaigns launched among sex workers,

youngsters consuming drugs and vulnerable sections such as truck

drivers and migrant labourers had started showing positive results in

terms of an increase in awareness.

http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/155875/1/