IMPHAL, Mar 31 : To fight against stigma and discrimination and to raise awareness and bring a change in the attitude towards marginalized groups and people living with HIV/AIDS, a media interaction cum releasing of three documentary films focussing on the lives of three PLWHAs was held this evening at the Manipur Press Club in Imphal.
The programme was organised as a joint venture of the AIHI (Australian International Health Institute), Avahan, OSD (Overcoming Stigma, Discrimination) and CFAR (Centre for Advocacy and Research) and was attended by project director of MACS Dr. Pramod and the three persons who were highlighted in the film programme.
The films were a part of the AIHI initiative on overcoming stigma and discrimination which will subsequently be used to raise awareness and build partnerships for combating the issues. It was supported by individuals and community based interpersonal communication intervention and structured around the mandate of the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) to address issues of stigma and discrimination in the fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
The films which were shown today will be used as a medium for raising awareness about the core issues of stigma and discrimination that PLWHAs and other vulnerable communities face and to inspire members of affected communities to take up the challenge in the fight against HIV/AIDS. It is also an attempt to look at partnerships with different stakeholders like service providers, church leaders, positive network groups etc. in a joint collaborative effort against battling stigma and discrimination.
Dr. Pramod who also honored the presentation of posters maintained that to fight against HIV/AIDS as well as stigma and discrimination such programmes are very much required in the state. He was proud that such programmes are organised in order to change the attitude of the people towards the PLWHAs.
Many programmes giving emphasis on HIV/AIDS were held in the state but such programmes were not organised till date and although 99 percent of the population of the state have the knowledge of HIV/AIDS they never really know how to control and prevent the disease.
Therefore, to change the behaviour and attitudes, the role of media and poster campaign will be very much important. And for these reasons the MACS are going to use the poster produced by OSD and films as eye openers for the public, he said.
The team leader of OSD, Dr. Joyee who highlighted on the campaign against stigma and discrimination maintained that in October-November 2005 Emmanuel Health Association, Project Orchid and AIHI had commissioned a rapid assessment of HIV/AIDS related stigma and discrimination towards marginalized groups and PLWHA was occurring in health care facilities, within families in educational institutions, work place, religious settings and the police.
Showing posts with label HIV/AIDS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HIV/AIDS. Show all posts
Destitute kids of Manipur
Imphal, February 2 : Inspite of the Constitutional provisions for providing free education to all the children, there are many children who have not been able to get proper education due to one reason or the other.
Sponsoring such children to ensure proper education has become all the more imperative in conflict ridden States like Manipur which is also facing the issue of HIV/AIDS that have orphaned many children.
On the other hand, inspite of their strong desire, inmates in many of the children homes in Manipur whose parents are no more still have no opportunity to study in private schools as the maintenance amount provided by the Government for them is too limited.
In such a situation, the noble cause of the ACOAM-Lup and TM English School at Uripok in sponsoring the education of eight inmates out of 50 staying in the Children Home, Tera since the academic session of 2008 has shown a ray of hope to many destitute children in the State.
The required text books, exercise books, pens/pencils, compass boxes and ink pots of eight student-inmates for the academic session 2009 which is due to begin soon were distributed during a simple function at TM English School today.
The text books and other stationery items have been presented from the side of ACOAM-Lup while the education of the eight student-inmates is the responsibility of the school authority.
The school authority would not be charging any admission fee and monthly tuition fee from the said eight student-inmates upto the completion of class X.Speaking at the occasion, administrator of the school Indrajit Taorangbam observed that it is high time for all the private schools to take up the responsibility of sponsoring the education of such destitute children at whatever level they can.
Everyone should think over how far this system could be put into practice, he added.
As for TM English School, he went on to say, the eight student-inmates who are being sponsored currently would not be the last.
The school has its definite stand on carrying on with the good work, he added.
Former secretary of ACOAM-Lup Ibotombi Angom who was also present at the occasion, noted that it should be the responsibility of every section of the society to educate the children.
Sponsoring such children to ensure proper education has become all the more imperative in conflict ridden States like Manipur which is also facing the issue of HIV/AIDS that have orphaned many children.
On the other hand, inspite of their strong desire, inmates in many of the children homes in Manipur whose parents are no more still have no opportunity to study in private schools as the maintenance amount provided by the Government for them is too limited.
In such a situation, the noble cause of the ACOAM-Lup and TM English School at Uripok in sponsoring the education of eight inmates out of 50 staying in the Children Home, Tera since the academic session of 2008 has shown a ray of hope to many destitute children in the State.
The required text books, exercise books, pens/pencils, compass boxes and ink pots of eight student-inmates for the academic session 2009 which is due to begin soon were distributed during a simple function at TM English School today.
The text books and other stationery items have been presented from the side of ACOAM-Lup while the education of the eight student-inmates is the responsibility of the school authority.
The school authority would not be charging any admission fee and monthly tuition fee from the said eight student-inmates upto the completion of class X.Speaking at the occasion, administrator of the school Indrajit Taorangbam observed that it is high time for all the private schools to take up the responsibility of sponsoring the education of such destitute children at whatever level they can.
Everyone should think over how far this system could be put into practice, he added.
As for TM English School, he went on to say, the eight student-inmates who are being sponsored currently would not be the last.
The school has its definite stand on carrying on with the good work, he added.
Former secretary of ACOAM-Lup Ibotombi Angom who was also present at the occasion, noted that it should be the responsibility of every section of the society to educate the children.
Saturday Leader/Walking the HIV/AIDS tightrope
Source: Leader writer : Chitra Ahanthem
The initiative taken up by the Manipur Network of Positive People to provide a comprehensive package of education, nutrition and medical support for forty children affected by HIV/AIDS is a welcome relief for many parents who cannot afford to send their wards to school, burdened by the costs of their own treatments and a succor to the guardians left in charge of children whose parents have died of HIV/AIDS. And yet, for each one of the forty children who got the said support from the MNP+ led initiative, there are many others who have not got the support that is due to them. This, in many ways reflects the failure of the way HIV/AIDS related programs have been in place in the country. The buzz words for the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) backed programs have been on “high risk groups” for which “intervention programs” are designed. This means then that when the decision makers were setting out programs, they were looking only at
injecting drug users, migrant workers, sex workers and commercial sex workers. This meant then that nobody was looking at addressing issues and needs of the spouses and sexual partners of the said populations and their offspring. The entry of bilateral donor agencies in the state did address some needs of children affected by HIV/AIDS but comprehensive education support remained elusive. Yet, the basic premise of this initiative being needed reflects too well the deplorable environment of education that exists around us today.
The Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan under the Government of India aims at providing free education to children till the age of 14 years. The scheme has provisions for free school textbooks along with a mid day meal for students in Government schools but in Manipur, parents have more faith in private schools on one hand while on the other, the implementation of the said scheme leaves little to be desired. The preference for private schools stems from the quality of teaching imparted at Government schools and it is no matter of irony that parents teaching at Government schools send their children to private schools. Children belonging to the hill districts are worse off since there are less private schools. The MNP+ led initiative addresses the needs of forty children affected by HIV/AIDS but what of the others who are affected and what of children who are not affected by HIV/AIDS?
The 17th International AIDS Conference in Mexico City in August 2008 brought many voices from certain countries in Africa who said that the attention by various international donors to the needs of children affected by HIV/AIDS created a segregation of sorts between “NGO children” and “non-NGO children”. The “NGO children” would be the ones who would get some benefit or the other while the later would be the ones who needed those services just as well but did not get it because he/she was not infected or affected by HIV/AIDS. Many people who had worked in various African countries talked of the subtle division among children who were in dire need of education, health, nutrition and medication out of which, only those affected by HIV/AIDS had opportunities to have them addressed. There was also a strong message resonating at the Mexico Conference about the need to focus on family units as a whole while rendering HIV/AIDS related services
instead of a male member (father) going to a particular service center; a female member (mother) going to another and the child being taken to yet another place. These voices from Africa has special meaning for Manipur considering the extent of similarities: the ravages of conflict (armed, ethnic) in both settings have impacted health and educational institutions besides fracturing the economic situation of the people. HIV/AIDS has only added its own dimension to failing institutions and breaking apart mechanisms that need to be in place for their redressal.
There must be a strong resolve by the Government to look at appropriate measures in terms of the educational needs of children living in the state. There is no doubt a series of “consultations” organized by various departments and agencies, the latest being the one organized by the Manipur Women Commission on the impact of HIV/AIDS on women and children. What is required are not consultations in name but an action process that addresses the needs of the HIV /AIDS affected and infected populations. The call at this hour would be an appraisal of what has been talked about till now and then to walk that talk.
The initiative taken up by the Manipur Network of Positive People to provide a comprehensive package of education, nutrition and medical support for forty children affected by HIV/AIDS is a welcome relief for many parents who cannot afford to send their wards to school, burdened by the costs of their own treatments and a succor to the guardians left in charge of children whose parents have died of HIV/AIDS. And yet, for each one of the forty children who got the said support from the MNP+ led initiative, there are many others who have not got the support that is due to them. This, in many ways reflects the failure of the way HIV/AIDS related programs have been in place in the country. The buzz words for the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) backed programs have been on “high risk groups” for which “intervention programs” are designed. This means then that when the decision makers were setting out programs, they were looking only at
injecting drug users, migrant workers, sex workers and commercial sex workers. This meant then that nobody was looking at addressing issues and needs of the spouses and sexual partners of the said populations and their offspring. The entry of bilateral donor agencies in the state did address some needs of children affected by HIV/AIDS but comprehensive education support remained elusive. Yet, the basic premise of this initiative being needed reflects too well the deplorable environment of education that exists around us today.
The Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan under the Government of India aims at providing free education to children till the age of 14 years. The scheme has provisions for free school textbooks along with a mid day meal for students in Government schools but in Manipur, parents have more faith in private schools on one hand while on the other, the implementation of the said scheme leaves little to be desired. The preference for private schools stems from the quality of teaching imparted at Government schools and it is no matter of irony that parents teaching at Government schools send their children to private schools. Children belonging to the hill districts are worse off since there are less private schools. The MNP+ led initiative addresses the needs of forty children affected by HIV/AIDS but what of the others who are affected and what of children who are not affected by HIV/AIDS?
The 17th International AIDS Conference in Mexico City in August 2008 brought many voices from certain countries in Africa who said that the attention by various international donors to the needs of children affected by HIV/AIDS created a segregation of sorts between “NGO children” and “non-NGO children”. The “NGO children” would be the ones who would get some benefit or the other while the later would be the ones who needed those services just as well but did not get it because he/she was not infected or affected by HIV/AIDS. Many people who had worked in various African countries talked of the subtle division among children who were in dire need of education, health, nutrition and medication out of which, only those affected by HIV/AIDS had opportunities to have them addressed. There was also a strong message resonating at the Mexico Conference about the need to focus on family units as a whole while rendering HIV/AIDS related services
instead of a male member (father) going to a particular service center; a female member (mother) going to another and the child being taken to yet another place. These voices from Africa has special meaning for Manipur considering the extent of similarities: the ravages of conflict (armed, ethnic) in both settings have impacted health and educational institutions besides fracturing the economic situation of the people. HIV/AIDS has only added its own dimension to failing institutions and breaking apart mechanisms that need to be in place for their redressal.
There must be a strong resolve by the Government to look at appropriate measures in terms of the educational needs of children living in the state. There is no doubt a series of “consultations” organized by various departments and agencies, the latest being the one organized by the Manipur Women Commission on the impact of HIV/AIDS on women and children. What is required are not consultations in name but an action process that addresses the needs of the HIV /AIDS affected and infected populations. The call at this hour would be an appraisal of what has been talked about till now and then to walk that talk.
MNP+ launches support programme
Imphal, January 20 : With the objective to provide education support to 40 children living with HIV, the Manipur Network of Positive People (MNP+) has launched a programme in association with donors.
The Education Support programme launched yesterday at a simple function in MDU hall was graced by Deputy Chairman of State Planning Board E Kunjakishore and the MACS Joint Director (TI) as presidium members.
Giving key-note address of the function, MNP vice-president Ajitshwar said that according to an epidemiological report compiled by MACS, the number of people living with HIV in the age group of 0 to 20 years till May 2008 was 2974 .
Around 6500 children in the State have been affected/infected by HIV/AIDS.
Just like other children, it is their due right to get proper education for these children too, Ajitshwar noted.
However, a large number of them having been facing great hurdles in pursuing their education due to poverty.
It is in the backdrop of such grim situation that the MNP and NGOs with support from local donors take up the initiative to provide education support to 40 such children during 2009-10, he said.
Announcing names of the donors, several articles including school bags were distributed to beneficiary children during the function.
The Education Support programme launched yesterday at a simple function in MDU hall was graced by Deputy Chairman of State Planning Board E Kunjakishore and the MACS Joint Director (TI) as presidium members.
Giving key-note address of the function, MNP vice-president Ajitshwar said that according to an epidemiological report compiled by MACS, the number of people living with HIV in the age group of 0 to 20 years till May 2008 was 2974 .
Around 6500 children in the State have been affected/infected by HIV/AIDS.
Just like other children, it is their due right to get proper education for these children too, Ajitshwar noted.
However, a large number of them having been facing great hurdles in pursuing their education due to poverty.
It is in the backdrop of such grim situation that the MNP and NGOs with support from local donors take up the initiative to provide education support to 40 such children during 2009-10, he said.
Announcing names of the donors, several articles including school bags were distributed to beneficiary children during the function.
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