Date:02/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/02/stories/2008120250740200.htm

Tamil Nadu

Rallies mark World AIDS Day

Staff Reporter

Photos: K. Ananthan and k. Balaji

AWAKENING GLOW: Members of Marialaya, a rehabilitation home for street and working girls, holding candles at a silent demonstration in Coimbatore on the World AIDS Day on Monday and (below) an AIDS awarness rally organised by Indian Medical Association in Tirupur on Monday. –

Tirupur: Mayor K. Selvaraj flagged off an HIV/AIDS awareness rally organised by the Indian Medical Association, Tirupur branch, to observe the World AIDS day here on Monday.

The campaign was conducted to tell the public how Acquired Immuno-deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) destroys the body’s immunity and make it vulnerable to various ‘opportunistic’ diseases.

The doctors, nurses and other paramedical staff, who constituted the rally, disseminated the importance of ‘safer sex’ practices to avoid the transmission of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) from an infected person to another.

In an attempt to erase the myths prevalent about AIDS, the doctors explained to the public the various methods through which someone gets infected with HIV.

“The virus spreads if a person enters into sex with an infected person without using condoms, through transfusion of blood from an infected donor and by sharing syringes used by a carrier of HIV,” the doctors said.

Deputy Director of Health V. Vijayalakshmi told The Hindu that HIV prevalence in Tirupur Health Unit District (HUD) had fallen to 80 per 1,000 population against 100 per 1,000 population registered five years ago.

“The decline in the rate can be attributed to better awareness among people, thanks to the campaigns undertaken by various stakeholders,” she said.

Official sources added that most of the transmission of HIV in Tirupur HUD takes place through commercial sex workers, followed by homosexuals and injection drug users (IDU).

Earlier on the day, Lions Club of Tirupur Melvin Jones in association with an NGO conducted a similar rally in the town.

Organisers of AIDS awareness functions made it clear that the primary objective of such exercises were to generate awareness on AIDS and to clear a lot of misconceptions regarding the disease.

Such programmes will help allay unfounded fears about AIDS patients too.

The organisers wanted the public to understand how AIDS can spread and ensure that AIDS victims are not alientated or isolated by society.