Monday, December 1, 2008

Stop AIDS, Keep the promise

Indian Development Foundation and Vivek Education Society organized World AIDS Day Campaign on December 1, 2008 at Vivek College of Commerce, Goregaon West in North Mumbai.

About 300 students from Class IX to final year degree college formed the major audience who received the vital information on HIV/AIDS.

Though the numbers of HIV cases are coming down in India, still we need to have concern for those affected with this dreaded disease and who die out of it. We can STOP HIV/ AIDS only through proper awareness and education. World AIDS Day gives us an opportunity to take part in the massive campaign and spread the message, said Dr. W.S. Bhatki.

Dr. W. S. Bhatki, Director of Maharashtra Lokahita Seva Mandal (former Project Director for Mumbai District AIDS Control Society) and Chief Guest for the programme stressed on faith, love and joy. Youth in this country should know the importance of life and help to build a healthy society, stressed Dr. Bhatki.

Dr. Narayan B. Iyer, National Co-ordinator of IDF interacted with the students and said, good nutrition and medical care can increase bodily strength and delay the onset as well as the frequency of opportunistic infections.

Mr. Suresh Nair, Principal, Vivek Vidyalaya & Junior College stressed on the statistical details and the rising problem in India. He said early detection is crucial which helps quick medical support and thereby increasing the lifespan of the patient. Prof. P. Thangadurai, NSS Co-ordinator, Vivek College of Commerce exhorted the students to come forward and fight against the dreaded disease.

Sashikala Gounder, Abhishek Panchal, and Sneha Thampy spoke on the topic. The students in their speech stressed on massive health awareness and education to stop the spread of the disease. Community participation and love for the children affected with HIV were also some of the points the students touched upon.

Mrs. Nilu Khosla, Principal incharge of Vivek College of Commerce said young students are all set to lead a national campaign on HIV/AIDS to stop the menace caused by the disease.

Bedrock hall was fully decorated with messages and vital information on HIV/AIDS. Colourful banners, posters, charts and newsclippings gave more impetus to campaign.

Red Ribbons were distributed to all the participating students while pamphlets on HIV/AIDS were exchanged for more knowledge. Students and dignitaries joined in lighting candle to mark the World AIDS Day and pledging to fight against the disease. Dr. Sharad Nayampally and Mr. Sanjay Waghmare from IDF co-ordinated the event with the NSS volunteers of the college.

Stop AIDS, Keep the Promise was the slogan raised by the students as they lighted the candles. People need to respect and protect themselves to stop AIDS, the students said.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Dear Team - IDF:

An excellent initiative to educate the young minds on AIDS and the role they can play to wipe out the existence of this dreaded disease from our world.

As a suggestion I would like IDF to undertake a group discussion, brain-storming session on yet another topic - Terrorism. Rather than speaking on the ill effects of terrorism and the issues involved, we could encourage the young minds to come up with creative, innovative, thought provoking solutions to such attacks on human lives. As I see, India of tomorrow will have abundance of talent. However, all this talent will go waste if not tapped. Let IDF take the future in its hands, shape and strengthen it at the root. This will not only allow the students to undertake research on the same, but also go deeply into the topic. This will also make them think! Once the thinking process has begun, IDF has done its job. IDF needs to act as a facilitator and enable the world to start thinking!

Lets discuss this among ourselves!

Regards,

Karthick.S
+971 50 7765635