Concerned over the alarming rise the HIV/AIDS cases in the North-East, the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) in collaboration with UNAIDS, the joint United Nations programme on HIV/AIDS, launched a campaign to combat the fatal disease in the region.  

The joint drive aims at reducing the risk and impact of HIV among the people in the North-Eastern states of India. The key components of the initiative include capacity building and advocating care and support for women and children in these states.

The five-year program is supported with an $8.9 million grant from the Australian government and includes reaching out to the far-flung districts by developing a network of services in partnership with state machinery, as well as other community-based services. According to the Australian High Commissioner in India John McCarthy, Australia will commit around nine million dollars over the next five years to combat AIDS in four of the north-eastern states - Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizoram.

According to a survey, two of the six high HIV/AIDS prevalent states in India are Manipur and Nagaland and estimates show that 30 per cent of the country's 'injecting' drug users are in the North-East. Another survey conducted by National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) of India found a HIV prevalence rate of 0.28 percent for the population in the age group of 15-49 years. The occurrence of the fatal disease is 60 percent higher among men than in women, at 0.36 percent and 0.22 percent respectively. HIV prevalence is particularly high in Manipur (1.1 percent) and Andhra Pradesh (1 percent).

Meanwhile, the concern over the growing cases of HIV/AIDS in the region has prompted the government to rope in the church to create awareness among the youths about safe sex and the use of condoms. According to the NACO director general Sujatha Rao, thus far the church has not accepted the need to promote condoms and have not come out in the open. But now they are holding continuous dialogues with the church and have urged that they should not deny information about promoting safe sex and use of condoms.

There is, however, no conflict between the church and the NACO. While the church preaches about abstinence and being faithful to their partners, NACO wants them to also articulate about the use of condoms and being careful in their relationship. The best part of the story is that now the church has agreed to work with NACO as they are seeing the reality of youth dying of AIDS.  

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