Mangalore: An HIV/AIDS Awareness campaign ‘Nirmoolana’ was held during a ferry ride from Sultan Battery to Tanniverbavi on February 23, Saturday. The initiative was taken by Department of Mass Communication of St Aloysius College, Mangalore, Boloor Mogaveera Sabha, a ferry service and Hongirana Network of Positive People (HNPP), an NGO
Student co-ordinators Kiran Shenoy and Anjali Rai helped distribute informative pamphlets to passengers in the ferry. Seema of Hongirana Network, said there was a need to focus on youngsters as nearly 31 per cent of HIV affected in India are in the 15-29 age group. She said ever since Hongirana was started IN 2006, over 3,400 HIV infected people have enrolled in the organization. Hongirana offers counseling for the infected individuals, and helps them avail government schemes, she added.
Dr Sangeetha Laxmi, a naturopathic practitioner at Sahara Nature Cure Centre, informed that in all government hospitals, Integrated Counseling and Testing Centres (ICTC) provide free check-up, care, treatment and counseling for people affected by HIV/AIDS
Rajashekar Karkera, Devanand, Madhava Karkera, Gujaran, Madhava Salian from Boloor Mogaveera Sabha and Laxmi Shenoy from Department of Mass Communication participated in the awareness campaign.