IE : Students to help spread AIDS awareness : Sept 6, 2007

Students to help spread AIDS awareness

EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE ,, MLJMBAI, SEPTEMBER S
In a first of its kind initia­tive in the city, college stu­dents will
partner NGOs to raise awareness on AIDS and other sexually trans­mitted
diseases among stu­dents and local communi­ties.

The programme, DISHA Mumbai (District Inte­grated Strategy for HIV AIDS),
organised by UNICEF, Maharashtra Districts AIDS Control So­ciety (MDACS) and
the Ministry of Higher and Medical Education, was in­augurated at DTSS
College in Malad (East) by Minister for Power, Higher and Medical Education
Dilip Valse Patil on Wednesday.

It will now be rolled out across seven city wards. A very successful pilot­
scheme, not operating through colleges, has al­ready been carried out in
three wards.

Under the programme, DISHA cells, called Red Ribbon clubs, will be formed in
40 colleges that have National Service Scheme (NSS) groups. Five students
from the NSS will be chosen as leaders and will undergo intensive UNICEF
training. They will be responsible for edu­cating other students and local
slum-dwellers on is­sues like adolescence, life skills and sexually
transmit­ted diseases.

They will also be respon­sible for providing direction regarding public
health ser­
vices to local slum commu­nities. They will be moni­tored as the scheme
pro­gresses, with one student volunteer given responsibil­ity of a group of
500 people.

UNICEF has also en­listed the aid of specialist NGOs to provide the
nec­essary support to the stu­dents involved in the local outreach.
UNICEF spokesman Tushar Rane said: "This is the first time that such a
comprehensive plan has been drafted. HIV inci­dence is higher amongst the
youth, and so we asked our­selves why we shouldn't channel the scheme in an
organised way through stu­dents into the local youth, who will in turn teach
oth­ers about HIV/AIDS. It is a preventive strategy."

Support from NGOs was important because the re­sources and workforce of the
organised student sec­tor were rather limited, he said, adding if
successful, the scheme would be ex­panded across the city.

Publication : IE; Section : National Network; Pg : 2; Date : 6/9/07