The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : AIDS awareness: NGOs, industry must play `proactive role'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 22, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

AIDS awareness: NGOs, industry must play `proactive role'

By Our Special Correspondent

M.V. Ashok Babu, programme manager, AIDS Prevention and Control Project (left); T.T. Ashok, chairman, State Council of CII, and N.S. Murali, honorary secretary, VHS, at a review meeting in Chennai on Tuesday. — Photo: K. Pichumani

CHENNAI, DEC. 21. The need for joint efforts by managements of industries and voluntary agencies in controlling the spread of sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS among industrial workers was highlighted at a "Experience sharing and review meeting" here today.

Inaugurating the four-day meeting organised by the AIDS Prevention and Control Project (APAC) and the Voluntary Health Services (VHS), T. T. Ashok, chairman, State council of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), called upon industries and non-government organisations to play a proactive role in creating awareness among the workforce through sensitisation programmes.

The CII's HIV/AIDS workplace policy, which clearly laid down that persons living with HIV/AIDS should not be discriminated against in terms of promotions, increments and other benefits, had been adopted by many companies, he said.

Commending the industrial intervention programme (IIP) on HIV/AIDS implemented in the State, Mr. Ashok said the message should reach the workforce with the involvement of trade unions and the community as a whole. The CII had realised that industry was part of the society, which should fulfil its social commitment in fighting the epidemic. "It is a positive start but there is a long way to go."

Describing the Tamil Nadu experience as excellent, Mr. Ashok said 13 companies had signed the CII's policy document. Though initially there were some mental blocks, when the managements were approached for their cooperation in making the programme a success, they responded positively. He said 86 chief executive officers and 13 industrial units were already in the programme. A total of 25,000 workers had already been covered under the awareness programme and the CII wanted to raise the number to 1.50 lakhs. The CII had also been trying to reach out to the workers in other districts and the Union Territory of Pondicherry through its zonal offices and industrial associations.

N. S. Murali, secretary, VHS, who presided over the inaugural session, appealed to industrial managements to treat NGO volunteers as partners in the efforts to educate workers about the epidemic. The APAC project administered by the VHS had been implemented with the support of over 70 NGOs.

Dr. Murali appealed to the managements to allow NGO volunteers to meet workers so that they could carry out the IIP effectively. The IIP would only benefit the industries by increasing productivity and bringing down absenteeism.

Mr. Ashok released the "break for emergency" key chain and gave awards to managements and human resource development departments of industries and peer educators for implementing the IIP.

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