Gujarat State Aids Control Society (GSACS) has initiated an awareness campaign on HIV and AIDS, ‘Zindagi Zindabad’, from September 1, 2009. This campaign will continue till March 19, 2010, covering 22 districts and around 3,000 villages to create awareness about AIDS and HIV, especially targeting women and youths in rural areas.
For this, the GSACS has floated five vans that will move around for 200 days in the state (i.e, 1,000 human days) and spread awareness by performing street plays and dramas and exhibiting banners containing vital information on the theme in regional language. GSACS counselors will also be present to advise people and hold one to one discussions to answer their personal queries.
“Last year, the state health department covered about 15 districts and over 1,500 villages, where over 15,000 people took advantage of the awareness campaign.” said minister for Health and Family Welfare (State), Jaynarayan Vyas during a press conference organised by the Gujarat State Aids Control Society (GSACS) on Monday at Circuit House, Shahibaugh.
He further said, “The Red Ribbon Express (RRE), another initiative to sensitise people about AIDS and HIV, got tremendous response from people across Gujarat. We, are therefore expecting better response than what we have achieved till now,” So far, around 1.38 lakh people, including children, have been identified as infected from HIV in the state. Moreover, around 0.38% of the total adult population of Gujarat are HIV positive, added Vyas.
During the campaign, GSACS’s five vans will also target 30,000 sex workers, 34,000 MSMs (man having sex with man), 55,000 truck drivers, 99,365 migrants residing in the state and 650 drug addicts, said a GSACS official.
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