Thousands of people in India's northeast, where drug users have sparked fears of a worsening AIDS epidemic, pledged Wednesday to step up the fight against HIV by spreading awareness about it.
Students, health workers and rehabilitated drug addicts marched through the streets in the seven states - Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura - to mark World AIDS Day and educate the public about prevention and treatment for the HIV-positive.
"We need to put our heart and soul together to combat the deadly scourge of AIDS afflicting both the rich and poor," Assam Health Minister Bhumidhar Barman said.
"We must also fight the social stigma attached to the disease," Barman told IANS.
Some 5.1 million Indians are HIV positive, although unofficial estimates put the figure at closer to six million. The figure gives India the largest HIV-positive population after South Africa.
While the seven northeastern states have a total of 100,000 HIV-positive patients, authorities fear the disease may spread because of the region's acute drug problem.
India's northeast borders the heroin-producing "Golden Triangle" of Laos, Myanmar and Thailand and has high rates of intravenous drug use - a key cause of HIV infection here.
The seven states account for less than four percent of India's one billion-plus population but are home to more than 30 percent of the country's intravenous drug users, according to various estimates.
"Sharing of needles by drug users in the northeast rather than promiscuous sex has led to a quantum increase in the number of AIDS cases," said T. Ao, a community healthcare expert in Nagaland.
"But today, the drug users are passing the infection to the general population in the region through their sex partners. HIV transmission rates from mother to child is also assuming frightening proportions."
In the predominantly Christian states of Nagaland and Mizoram, special prayers were held at the churches with volunteers with placards and pamphlets going from door-to-door to educate the people about the disease.
"It is our duty to prevent a catastrophe from happening," said T. Lalrinmawia, a church leader in Mizoram.
Health workers also emphasized the need to educate sex workers following surveys that suggest most prostitutes in the region were engaging in unprotected sex.
The AIDS Prevention Society, a community health organization in Assam, has launched "Project Sakhi", a peer-based scheme aimed at increasing awareness about HIV among prostitutes.
"We need to reach out to the sex workers in a planned manner to keep the AIDS time bomb from exploding in the region," community healthcare expert S.I. Ahmed said.
Despite the efforts of non-governmental organizations and pressure groups, government agencies in the region have so far not managed to curb drug addiction or prostitution.
--Indo-Asian News Service