New Delhi: Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has initiated a massive awareness campaign on HIV/AIDS, through its School of Social Work (SOSW). The program will mainly focus on spreading awareness on HIV/AIDS in India.
Through the awareness program, all the fresh students will be mailed with a folder titled ‘HIV/AIDS Prevention guide for students’, carrying basic facts regarding HIV/AIDS. Every year, IGNOU organizes a number of regional-level-seminars and an Annual National Seminar on ‘Social Work Response to HIV/AIDS’. This year, the seminar is being held in Kuttikkanam, Idukki district of Kerala, from August 19-22, 2010.
IGNOU imparts a number of academic programs of study in the topic of HIV/AIDS that includes Certificate in HIV and Family Education, Diploma in HIV/AIDS and Family Education, three electives on HIV /Family education & substance abuse, three courses on HIV/AIDS are on offer in BPP Program, Course on HIV/AIDS: Stigma, discrimination and prevention (on offer in MSW), Introduction to HIV/AIDS, Adolescent and Family Education, launched in B.Ed in 2008 and M.Phil and PhD students of SOSW undertake courses and dissertation on HIV/AIDS.
These courses mainly focus on the causes and effects of AIDS, various ways of preventing the transmission of HIV/AIDS and preventing discrimination against those infected with HIV/AIDS. IGNOU is also conducting awareness programs through mass media. For instance, more than 24 video programs on HIV/AIDS are telecast on Gyan Darshan (IGNOU’s educational channel) and Gyan Vani.
According to National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), there are around 2.5 million people affected by HIV/AIDS in India. If not curbed, India could come at par with the countries of sub-Saharan Africa that are worst affected with HIV/AIDS.
