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Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, OCT 10: Search is on for a `role model’ — a cricketer or an actress — to become the country’s AIDS ambassador and take the National AIDS Control Organisation’s (NACO) awareness messages to the youth. NACO is planning an intensive AIDS awareness campaign for adolescents and youth from November 15 to December 31 and the new ambassador’s face would be seen everywhere.
For, apart from advertising and media campaigns, spots will be aired on radio and television, including private channels. The messages will be in Hindi and English to reach people in both rural and urban areas. The campaign will be funded from NACO’s information, education and communication (IEC) budget of Rs 6 crore.
That’s not all. Television will play a bigger role in NACO’s campaign over the next year, with two television chat show series in the pipeline. “The shows — in Hindi and English — will run for a year and will deal with AIDS-related subjects like sexuality, drug abuse etc,” says J.V.R. Prasada Rao, Director, NACO. While the one in English will target the urban population, the Hindi show will be oriented towards rural folk.
NACO has asked independent media consultants to conceptualise the talk shows, and final concepts will be submitted to the Health Ministry by the end of this month.
Treating AIDS is expensive and prevention programmes through awareness are the most practical way of stopping further spread of the disease. India has 3.6 million HIV-infected people, and in a highly-infected area like Mumbai, infection is a high 60 per cent among sex workers, 4-60 per cent in sentinel STD clinics and over 2 per cent among ante-natal women.
Though some multinationals like Glaxo have brought down the prices of anti-retroviral drugs nearly to the levels of generic versions, treatment costs about Rs 20,000 per month. The anti-retroviral regimen anyway does not cure AIDS but just staves off death.
NACO began its sentinel survey in August to identify the number of AIDS cases across the country. “This is the third such survey and the results will be out by the middle of December, which will allow us to assess how infection has been progressing in the country in the past three years,” says Prasada Rao. This will help NACO make predictions about future HIV infections and deaths.
