New Delhi, February 05, 2022.

Under the aegis of ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’, the Government has implemented two phases of awareness campaigns on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Voluntary Blood Donation. Phase II of awareness campaign on HIV/AIDS and TB was launched on 12th October 2021. The campaign endeavours to generate awareness regarding prevention of HIV/AIDS and TB, promotion of related services and reduce stigma and discrimination related to HIV/AIDS and TB.

During Phase I of the campaign, students from 834 schools and 889 colleges across the country were covered, including 25 schools and 100 colleges in the States of Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. During the campaign, the students participated in various competitions like painting, online quiz, poster making, signature campaigns, mask making and reel making competitions to generate awareness on HIV/AIDS and TB.

The National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) is implemented by National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) through State AIDS Control Societies (SACS) by allocating funds to them as grants-in-aid for providing HIV prevention, testing and treatment services. The States including Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu conducted the ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ campaign from grants-in-aid allocated to them for the year 2021-2022.

The awareness campaigns are a continuous process and regular activities are conducted in schools and colleges. Government of India launched National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) to address the HIV/AIDS disease in the country. NACP’s goal is to reduce annual new HIV infections and AIDS-related death by 80% since the baseline value of 2010 and the annual new HIV infections have declined by 48%. The achievement is 82% decline in AIDS-related death.