Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad   

Rosaiah concerned over incidence of HIV/AIDS

Special Correspondent

Thirty care and support centres for State this year Thirty care and support centres for State this year

HYDERABAD: Health Minister K. Rosaiah on Monday expressed concern that despite dedicated work by voluntary agencies and proactive Government polices, HIV/AIDS continued to be a cause of alarm in the State and the country.

He was speaking after releasing a `HIV/AIDS Awareness Package (HAAP) designed by youngsters in the age group of 10-15 as part of an initiative by Plan India, an NGO. Mr. Rosaiah said it was disturbing to know that while India was one of the high-risk nations, Andhra Pradesh was one among the top two States in the country as far as HIV/AIDS was concerned.

Support centres

Concerted, continuous work was required to contain the disease, he said, adding that Government was adding 30 care and support centres in the State this year.

Earlier, Madhavi, Rajeswari and Ravi Kumar, selected to be part of the team that designed the HAAP, went through a presentation showing the gathering how the kit was to be used in the endeavour to spread awareness among people. The trio were among over two dozen children selected from Delhi, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

Action emphasised

The process of putting the kit together took almost a year, said Venkat Velagala, Program Manager, Plan India, adding that it comprised an exercise to identify children who went to school and those who did not but with basic communication skills. HAAP includes animation, comics and puppetry tools designed and made by the participants themselves.

Presiding over the function, G.R.S. Rao from the Academy of Gandhian Studies said the time to discuss statistics and analysis was gone.

Accepting the truth

What was important was accepting the truth that HIV/AIDS had the potential to eliminate societies in some parts of the world, and work harder to put safeguards in place. "First contain the spread and then eliminate the virus. That is what we need to do," he said.

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