By ANI
Sunday April 1, 02:17 PM
New Delhi, April 1 (ANI): A voluntary group of teenagers in India has developed a child-friendly communication kit on HIV/AIDS during a series of capacity building workshops.
The special kit named HAAP will help in creating awareness on HIV/AIDS in India and countering the social stigma attached with the disease.
Developed in four languages namely Hindi, English, Telugu and Kannada, HAAP will enable children to learn about HIV/AIDS. It disseminates information through puppets, comic books, computer games and animation films.
Scores of children participated in the launch of the innovative child-friendly communication tool kit on HIV/AIDS awareness this Wednesday in the capital.
A core team comprising of representatives of Plan India, DFID, UNAIDS visited five different states of Delhi, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh and conducted residential workshops with the children.
"It is a child-friendly communication tool in order to disseminate messages on HIV/AIDS awareness in order to reduce stigma and discrimination," said Bhagyashree Dengle, Executive Director, Plan India.
Teenagers and youngsters in the age group of twelve to sixteen hailing from diverse backgrounds participated in the creation and development of "HAAP". Individual experts motivated these children to attempt such a novel task and provided the technical know-how about the content and storylines.
"I learnt a lot about HIV/AIDS from this initiative. I learnt how it spreads and what steps should be taken to prevent it. I was also sensitized on how to behave with patients suffering from HIV/AIDS," said Ashish Kumar, a student.
At present about 1,000 HAAP kits have been prepared and another 5,000 kits are in the pipeline.
The kits will be distributed across India in schools and self-help groups to reach out to greater audience and help in bringing a change the general outlook towards HIV/AIDS patients.
"That is a great initiative. It is fantastic to see the development of tools of communication, which are adapted to children, which are developed by children themselves so that they can explain to other children how to resist the stigma against HIV. I think it is a very important development," said Denis Broun, Country Head, UNAIDS.
The approach behind the whole programme is to promote children as agents of change in society rather than mere recipients.
Plan India has taken up the cause of pediatric AIDS in India after cases of discrimination against children suffering from HIV/AIDS started cropping up.
According to UNAIDS, 60,000 infants suffering with AIDS are born every year in the country.
According to the United Nations, 5.7 million Indians are living with HIV/AIDS - the world's largest caseload. (ANI)