puthiya MaathavikaL

[Oldposts]

There are many different ways of contracting HIV/AIDS.
There are just as many different ways of preventing HIV/AIDS.
There are many different groups of people exposed to HIV/AIDS.
There are many different ways of discriminating against people living with HIV/AIDS.
The WHYs, HOWs and WHOs change from CULTURE to CULTURE.

That is why we need :
A CULTURALLY-APPROPRIATE RESPONSE TO HIV/AIDS PREVENTION AND CARE.

In terms of HIV/AIDS prevention and care, adopting a cultural approach means that any given population´s cultural references and resources (ways of life, value systems, traditions, beliefs, religions and fundamental human rights) will be considered as key references when designing, implementing and monitoring prevention and care strategies, programmes and projects.

This is an essential component in achieving in-depth and sustainable changes in people´s behaviour, and to give full coherence to preventive education, medical treatment, care and support of infected and affected people.

This is why the joint UNESCO/UNAIDS research project A Cultural Approach to HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care was launched in May 1998, with the aim of stimulating reflection and action for better application of "a cultural approach" in strategies, policies, projects and fieldwork. This strategy engages populations in the fight against HIV/AIDS on the basis of their own cultural references and resources.

[Oldposts]

Is SEX_education important to save INDIA??????

Is our conservative culture 'helps' spreeading of AIDS??????????

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And nowhere else is the problem so pressing. Infants and children below the age of 15 form nearly 30 percent of India's 940 million people and form a high proportion of the upcoming sexually active persons exposed to HIV infection.

"Young people in this country are faced with an extraordinary lack of information and taken together with the powerlessness of women, the vulnerability to HIV is high," UNAIDS' Alexander said.

"Unfortunately, AIDS education is denied to young people because the subject is considered too sensitive and controversial for discussion in classrooms," said Asa Andersson, expert in AIDS education with UNESCO.

However, she said several states such as western Maharashtra, central Madhya Pradesh, southern Tamil Nadu and north-eastern Manipur have taken their own initiatives and shown commendable progress.

Education is a state subject in India and although the central government exerts considerable influence through the National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT), the government has so far failed to pronounce any firm policy.

According to Dr. Balaji, NCERT has so far been playing it safe because of the explosiveness of the issue of sex education which cannot be separated from AIDS education. "Too many people think that neither is compatible with their notion of Indian culture."

Still Balaji said India has come a long way from the day in 1993 when he was nearly assaulted by the principal of a government school in Madhya Pradesh where he and his team were attempting to introduce a course in sex education.

"We perfected a module for training teachers and peer educators after first trying to get biology teachers and even physical education teachers to do the job," he said.

In the end, reason prevailed and in Maharashtra a programme called 'Family Life Education,' dealing with sexuality, respect for the opposite sex and changes in puberty gets to half a million students in 2,300 schools through a non governmental organisation (NGO) called the Sevadham Trust.

According to Dr. S.V. Gore, managing trustee of Sevadham, the project took off largely because of unexpected support from parents who were relieved at not having to discuss the delicate subject of sex with their children.

One of Sevadham's body of 3,000 peer instructors, Gunjun Sah said young people in India were still learning too much from the television channels, pornographic material and from each other and too little from trained and responsible people. Said Dr. Balaji, "While it is natural for young people everywhere to take risks, behaviour modification can only be effected among people under the age of 25 that is why any worthwhile HIV-control programme needs to focus on this group."

Balaji said HIV/AIDS in India is something of a blessing in disguise because it has compelled attention on neglected areas such as equal relationships between men and women and on behavioural problems too easily attributed to the generation gap. (END/IPS/rdr/an/98)

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[Oldposts]

No more "mIN santhai" here any more! So no more need for me either!

To all the civilized individuals:

I would greatly appreciate if you all could forget the past and proceed in the good direction and I humbly request all the civilized individuals here not to mention or comment on any of my "mIn sanddthai" posts I had posted here today or earlier. I dont think I ask a lot from you as you are all highly decent and highly OPEN-MINDED individuals here!

Thanks a lot!

Good bye everyone!

[Oldposts]

ukw, I will venture to answer your posts and I don't care if I am "uncivilized" for it. HIV is a huge problem in India especially in TN. We could do one of many things, deny it exists, observe that it ONLY happens to the 'deserved' people, actively participate in raising awareness or just don't deal with it at all.

Knowledge of the health sciences is not necessary for expressing sympathy or concern over this problem. But enlightenment in the area becomes necessary when quoting anecdotes about the professional practice and such. You did a good job on posting links about AIDS in India and you have also contributed to the original discussion which dealt with "live-in". Your viewpoints are interesting and your attitude is forthright and you're not afraid to speak your mind and you are none the worse for it.

Like geno said before this is an 'impersonal' forum although we could all claim a certain camaraderie for likeness of thoughts and tastes. Our boundaries seem to shift constantly between "I'm allowed to say this because its my fundamental right" to "I will reserve some opinions because this does not seem like the right place for it". Given that we all demand a certain amount of consideration by others even in this face-less corner of cyberspace, let's not go all out branding people as one way or another, because POINTING FINGERS IS VERY EASY TO DO BUT CONCEDING TO FAILURE BY THE SAME STANDARDS IS THAT MUCH HARDER, if not more. This is my overall observation considering the last 6 to 8 pages of the ALL the posts made by EVERYONE, in this particular thread.

I just want to suggest that we lay down some ground rules for debates before we embark on them such as, in the present context, how do we define "live-in"? Geno's exasperated post in reply to the Q&A posted by PP is a good example. Let's not deviate from the definition of topic once we have defined it. Not even extreme leftists would agree with some of the claims alleged as being condoned by liberals on this thread. Let us also try to be objective to the topic and state our views irrespective of the opponent’s sex, age, past history or the lack of it, etc.

If we are looking to vent our frustrations on the society in a barely anonymous forum, we have accomplished doing just that but if we are looking for answers we have been doing the wrong thing.

Regards,

Cygnus

(Hitherto fore known as pg)

[Oldposts]

Doc: I appreciate your genuine post. I also went through your earlier posts which were all not at all uncivilized but they did not treat you better either. So I know the answer to this problem. Should I have to waste my time pretending like looking for an answer here? Nah!!! My mom still thinks I am a baby and she has an anti-west attitude too without analyzing the west carefully. We cant blame everything on west for sure. How come high-class writers like TJR came up with novels like Amma vanthaaL and marappasu. I dont see anything but pervertion there. May be TJR also got western influence? Someone working for Agilent technology should first try to make some instruments like HPLC and spectrophotometer of our own and work for Indian company before commenting on wests' achievement. That is my stupid logic!!! Well, good luck, doc!

[Oldposts]

test

[Oldposts]

«Õ¨ÁÂ¡É Ý¼¡É ¦À¡È¢ÀÈó¾ Ţš¾õ!! Á£ñÎõ ÀÊìÌõ§À¡Ðõ - ÀÄ Å¢„Âí¸û ¦¾Ç¢Å¡Ìõ Åñ½õ «¨ÉÅâý «È¢×ìÜ÷¨ÁÂ¡É ¸ÕòÐì¸û!

[Oldposts]

iam not able see the poem in tamil.iam new to this site.please guide me to do so.

[Oldposts]

sagi,

chk this out to post in Tamil

http://www.forumhub.com/poems/1526.02.43.05.html

[Oldposts]

Well a few people seem to have developed sudden amnesiac attack!


SO lemme help 'em out!

;=))))