Correspondent
KOHIMA, SEPTEMBER 16
THE fifth edition of NACO’s multi-media campaign (MMC) to promote awareness, education and support on the issue of HIV and AIDS across the North East states of India will be held from October 2013 till February 2014.
Launching the Nagaland state’s MMC on Monday at Rattle & Hum Lounge in Kohima, MLA and advisor Music Task Force Nagaland, Khriehu Liezietsu announced that the main component of the campaign ‘NSACS Music for Zero’ will kick start from Mon District on October 1 and culminate on October 28 at Dimapur. NSACS Music for Zero or NSACS ZERO campaign will aim to spread awareness of HIV and AIDS among the youth of Nagaland through the medium of music, he said. The MTF advisor will be the patron of this campaign.
Nagaland State AIDS Control Society (NSACS) project director, Dr. Nandira L. Changkija said the theme for this year’s music campaign is drawn in tune with UNAIDS’s strategy ‘Getting to Zero’- zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination, and zero AIDS-related deaths. She stated that the previous MMCs organized by NSACS were successful due to the collective efforts from all sections of the society and expressed hope that the campaign will be taken forward with a renewed vigour with the objectivity for greater visibility on the issue of HIV and AIDS. Dr. Changkija voiced concern that 60-65% of the current HIV and AIDS prevalent rate falls in the age group of 15-45 years, which she termed “the most productive age group” of the society. Therefore, the campaign is being carried out for a serious cause that is afflicting our society, she added.
Emphasizing the need to reach out to people living with HIV and extend concern and encouragement to them, Dr. Changkija called for spreading awareness and support through the campaign with renewed commitment on a greater perspective so that service to society can be achieved.
Meanwhile, IEC deputy director, Ayieno Kechu informed that the key components of the campaign will be awareness through music, sports and festivals. Maintaining that the inclusion of sports in the MMC is made with the view to reach out to the youth, particularly of the remote areas, she said this component of awareness will be held Pungro of Kiphiri district, Satakha under Zunheboto district and one village under Wokha district as per NACO priority location list. She also said that NSACS will “piggyback” on prominent festivals and celebrations and participate as part of awareness through festivals.
NSACS Music for Zero co- ordinator, Theja Meru who was also present during the launch of MMC said that this year’s music campaign anticipates the participation of over a hundred music groups across the state, out of which, eleven will be selected to participate at the Grand Finale slated to be held on October 28 in Dimapur. He said that unlike the previous years which keyed in on rock music, all genres of music such as rock, jazz, pop, blues etc will be encouraged in this year’s music campaign.
Meru also said that besides the winners of the Grand Finale, the first three position winners of the district level competitions will also receive cash prizes. He also informed that event partners will sponsor individual winners in the competition– Audio Garage- best vocalist, Unitex- best guitarist, Crescendo- best bass guitarist, Dream Cafe- best drummer, Space M- mobile handset each to all the four individual winners, while INDIHUT will produce a single track for the winner, host the artist on INDIHUT and promote them for free, and social network partner, the Naga Blog (TNB) will organise contests related to HIV and AIDS awareness and give custom made TNB t-shirts to winners.
NSACS Music for Zero/ NSACS ZERO is an initiative of the NACO Red Ribbon Superstar Campaign where MTF Nagaland and Legislators’ Forum on AIDS Nagaland will be the chief patrons. Mention may be made here that as per SRRI evaluation under International Media Research Bureau, Delhi, of all the states covered, HIV testing was reported to be the highest among respondents in Nagaland (18%) followed by Mizoram (16%) and Manipur (13%). According to SRRI evaluation, the significant difference can be observed in HIV testing among respondents who were exposed to the Red Ribbon campaign and those not exposed to the campaign.
