World AIDS Day is observed on December 1 every year in order to raise awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection and pay tribute to the AIDS patients.
According to a National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) report, it was estimated that in 2017, over 2.14 million people lived with HIV/AIDS in India, which makes us the third country in the world with the largest population of people living with the condition. While largely the causes that lead to AIDS still remain unprotected sex, how are we as a nation performing to aid those who are living with it already? This World AIDS Day, we are taking a look at all the organisations in India that are working for HIV and AIDS patients, in different capacities. Ranging from education and raising awareness to working for the benefit and providing a respectful life to patients, these organisations are doing it all.
World AIDS Day: Indian organisations that are making a difference
National AIDS Control Organization (NACO)
The GoI organisation for National AIDS response in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, NACO is a fully-funded Central organisation that works towards AIDS patients. It’s main components are Prevention, Information, Education and Communication (IEC), Testing, Treatment, Laboratory Services, Mainstreaming & Partnership and Social Protection and Strategic Information (SI). With its programmes and targets, it aims to halt and reverse the HIV epidemic in India.
Alliance India
A non-profit organisation that works through the support of community action in order to prevent HIV infection, meet the challenges of AIDS in India, and build healthier communities. Their mission is to build a world where nobody loses their life to AIDS. Alliance India is an organisation that works along with civil society, the Government of India and other communities to find sustained response to HIV and other related public health issues in India and build healthier communities. They also aim at making the healthcare system in India more efficient and advocating for human rights for AIDS patients. This World AIDS Day, this is just one of the many organisations that are doing to alleviate AIDS in India.
Asha Foundation
Established in 1998 by Dr. Glory Alexander and like-minded people, ASHA stands for Action, Service, Hope for AIDS. Decades ago, when Dr. Glory Alexander could not save a man dying of AIDS, she conceived the idea of this organisation, which soon became a reality. Since then, Asha has been helping people affected by HIV/AIDS and their families. Asha has made huge impact in the field through a range of services and acts like advocacy, capacity building, research, preventive services, awareness, treatment, care, support and rehabilitation of HIV affected persons with a special focus on women and children.
The Naz Foundation India
On the account of World AIDS Day, next is The Naz Foundation. They are a New Delhi-based NGO working on HIV/AIDS and Sexual Health since 1994. It focuses on prevention as well as treatment for the affected through holistic approaches to combat AIDS.
Neptune Foundation
On World AIDS Day, let us understand that it is not just about prevention and cure. In a country where so many people are affected by AIDS, it is important for them to have a decent life with adequate nutrition. That’s exactly what the Neptune Foundation does. It focuses on underprivileged people with AIDS, to provide them nutrition so that they can go through the strong medical treatment that HIV+ patients require to recover. This organisation finds patients in government hospitals and provides them ration and protein supplements to aid better recovery.
Snehalaya
This organisation aims at providing basic living amenities, like housing, food, clothes, medications, education and extra-curricular facilities to the HIV+ orphans and semi-orphans. Snehalaya aims at giving these children the amenities and resources that kids in normal households do while growing up.
Hero Image: Courtesy World AIDS Day/Instagram; Featured Image: Courtesy World AIDS Day/Instagram
Sreetama Basu
A journalism student who studied the subject only to meet SRK in person, she settled for the best way to meet him. Covering Entertainment throughout her career, and now Food, Health and Lifestyle as well, Sreetama is also a self-proclaimed plant mom. In love with all things slow and quiet, she can often be found hunting for quiet corners with a glass of wine in hand. Other loves include little, inconsequential things, like neatly tucked-in bedsheets and big, significant things, like whole cheesecakes. She dreams of being a baker and writing about food someday.
