The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Coimbatore News : AIDS/HIV prevention: onus is on peer group leaders

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Saturday, Dec 27, 2008
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Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore

AIDS/HIV prevention: onus is on peer group leaders

Staff Reporter

Photo: K. Ananthan

Air Vice-Marshal T.P. Madhusudanan (centre), Principal Medical Officer, Headquarters Training Command, Bangalore, releasing a souvenir at a workshop organised by the 6, Air Force Hospital in Coimbatore. –

COIMBATORE: The economic burden of the health sector is bearing heavily on tax payers. In this scenario, the increasing rate of HIV / AIDS is an added threat, Air Vice Marshal T.P. Madhusudanan, Principal Medical Officer, Headquarters Training Command, Indian Air Force, has said.

Inaugurating a three-day “Peer Group Educators’ Workshop on HIV / AIDS – Train the Trainer”, organised by 6 Air Force Hospital at the Air Force Administrative College (AFAC), he said peer group educators had an obligation to society in not only protecting the health of the community, but also in taking care of the less fortunate who were plagued by the virus.

Rate of incidence

“Though the national rate of incidence of HIV/AIDS is increasing, there has been a decline in incidence in the Armed Forces. This is not enough. The peer group leaders should serve as vital links in society and contribute in a major way in spreading awareness and also curtailing the spread of the dreaded virus,” the Air Vice Marshal said.

He asked the peer group educators to help those afflicted to overcome their shyness and seek treatment.

It was essential to include “the immense psychological tension, misplaced guilt, anger at their fate, constant fear of death, social stigma, and the incurring of high costs towards treatment,” in addition to the physical aspects of the disease.

It was not enough to urge them take treatment, but was very vital in that their fears were allayed and they returned to a life of dignity, he asserted.

He expressed happiness in that the Armed Forces had spearheaded the awareness programmes at the right time.

Air Commodore S. Subramanian, Commandant, AFAC, and Group Captain Raj Saxena, Commanding Officer, 6 Air Force Hospital, spoke.

Representatives from the three wings of the Armed Forces and civil organisations attended the workshop.

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