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Trading fear for facts
An Awareness Raising Campaign on AIDS
When the first HIV cases in India were detected in 1986 among the commercial
sex-workers in Madras and the first AIDS case in May’87 from Bombay, it
certainly created widespread consternation, but not the right type of concern
it deserved. Over the years, the virus has surfaced in as many as 21 States,
with Bombay and Delhi having topped the list as First and Second. According to
the statistics presented in the country scenario on AIDS by the National AIDS
Control Programme, the percentage of Sero-Positivity be 1000 screened samples,
has risen from 2.5 in 1986 to 5.24 by December, 1991. In most of the cases,
young people and economically productive sections of the society seem to be
the main affected category.
So far as youth and AIDS are concerned, India presents a paradox. Here
illiteracy and ignorance do not go together, as AIDS has surfaced only in the
literate localities.
A faint knowledge of sex among students is mostly of the ‘nuts-and-bolts’
variety, and text-book biology is too sketchy and mechanical. This poses a big
challenge for management of sexual aspirations and experimentation by students
in colleges and universities. Grown-up boys and girls, many of them educated
in mutually isolated all-boys and all-girls schools, without proper knowledge
of sex, converge in co-educational college and university campuses. From a
rigid school discipline to a sudden entry into campuses full of freedom, many
of them do not know how to cope with unforeseen challenges. The difficulty
inherent in availing legitimate and safe sexual outlets and relations during
their period is one of the most important problems.
Widespread drug addiction among the University and college students is a
manifestation of this maladjustment, uncertainties, ambivalence and emotion
insecurity. To cite an instance, 30% of students in the metropolitan city of
Bombay have been found to be drug addicts. The situation in other cities and
urban centres is equally bad. The method of self-injection and sharing of
syringes being fairly frequent, the scenario is ripe for HIV/AIDS pandemic.
The urban shift towards earlier sexual activity, unprepared campuses and weak
urban family and kinship units without orientation to cope with the problems
of adolescence, have worsened the situation further. Exposure to alien ideas
through mass media, tourists, migrant workers; spread of non-traditional
values; increased mobility; decreased student-teacher and parent-children
interaction; have all complicated the issue, in a society perceptibly moving
from traditional to transitional values and yet to settle down.
To date, only isolated efforts have been made to reach University students and
educate them about AIDS. In addition to raising the awareness about AIDS and
preventing its spread within this population, University students represent a
powerful force for a community outreach on the topic of AIDS. To begin the
process of educating and tapping this resource in the battle against AIDS, the
National Service Scheme (NSS) of the Ministry of Human Resource Development’s
Department of Youth Affairs and Sports has initiated a nation-wide message and
materials development contest entitled ‘Universities Talk AIDS’ (UTA). The
aim of the contest was to generate open discussions about AIDS at the state
level and produce effective message of University students. NSS volunteers and
Programme Coordinators from 60 Universities have been involved throughout
India. Information on student’s habits, attitudes, and practices and will
form the basis for a comprehensive programme for AIDS education and
counselling at the University level.
The overall objectives of the UTA project were to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS
among the student population in India and to motivate students to adopt safe
practices. The specific objectives were to develop a series of targeted
messages for students in India and to mobilize students to initiate community
discussions on AIDS and AIDS prevention.
This project was undertaken by the National Service Scheme (NSS), a voluntary
University Students’ Organisation with an annual membership of 1 million
covering 5,000 colleges, 158 Universities in all states of India. Senior NSS
volunteers were selected from 60 universities spread across the nation to
participate in a state and national level competition to develop appropriate
materials to reach university students on AIDS/STDs and prevention methods.
The methodology employed primarily consisted of sensitizing and training NSS
student of volunteers and functionaries on AIDS education and materials
development skills, pre-testing communication aids, process of behaviour
change, media management, publicity campaigns, etc. A comprehensive training
module was prepared and four regional workshops were organised to orient the
students and NSS programme officers and officials on the proposed activities
and AIDS.
Social marketing principles were employed to the first time to sensitize the
target audience on socio-medico aspects of AIDS. The purpose behind involving
the students in the process was to enable them to attain self realisation.
Students were asked to review their own behaviour and produce relevant
messages for their peers. Simultaneously, a more structured research study was
also initiated outside the campaign and the contest, through focus group
discussion with NSS and non-NSS students to explore their knowledge level
towards AIDS, sexual relations and practices, use of drugs, safe sex,
prevalent inhibitions, beliefs and biases, etc to find out the possible
problems the students could face as providers and receivers of such
communications.
The three-month long UTA proved to be a ground breaking venture since such an
open and intensive programme had never been conducted at the national level in
India. It was also an innovative intervention in the sense that right from the
beginning to the end, students were involved in the planning as well as the
implementation of the project which in fact, turned out to be a project of the
students, by the students and for the students.
It generated a
nationwide interest amongst the University students, and spurred off
independent efforts by student group to carry on the task of AIDS awareness
much beyond the message-design activities. For example, AIDS Walks, AIDS Quiz
Shows, AIDS Street-players continue to be conducted even after the
experimental phase of the project is over.
The various aspects of the UTA exercise, which involved multiple and
simultaneous processes of training, materials production, extension and
research, have enabled the national public health planners, educational policy
makers and youth programmes to be nearer to the collective thoughts,
knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of the student youth to evolve a
realistic strategy of AIDS information dissemination.
The process has made people, to a considerable extent, conscious of
psychobiological challenges of the youth and the need for a broader
understanding of the complex issue of sexuality and human relationships in the
context of ethnic and cultural values.
The UTA, being basically and information-sharing project, has also identified
a number of gaps. The UTA study on ‘Knowledge and Attitude towards AIDS’
has revealed that students do not appear to perceive it as a personal threat.
Similarly, a fair deal of confusion persists over contraception and disease
prevention. Also, there is a considerable lack of awareness as to how the
disease is spread. There were many instances where students appeared willing
to discuss sexuality, but teachers were found more resistant. It also appeared
that sexually active students were in a minority, but they are not particular
in using condoms. Relatively low sexual activity is explained by strong
traditional behavioural dictums and informal and indirect family control.
All these findings of this UTA project are to be integrated in the revised
strategies and action plans. Based on the UTA experience to-date, a
comprehensive programme to effectively reach all 10 million students through
training, college level events, peer education, plus counselling has been
planned. Comprehensive training modules and standardised IEC (Information,
Education and Communication) materials are already being refined and
developed.
The UTA Experience was successful as an initial information gathering and
awareness generating effort, but will certainly need a follow-up in order to
harvest all the benefits. This pioneering project has proven that it is
possible to mobilise the vast number of student youth in various parts of
India, regardless of the cultural heterogeneity, in educating people about the
factual, clinical picture of AIDS and initiating essential prevention
activities.
Dr.
Bhagaban Prakash
Programme Advisor, NSS/IC
Ministry of Human Resource Development
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