A Staff Reporter
DIMAPUR, MARCH 4
With latest figures reportedly depicting an alarming 4.4% increase in HIV & AIDS prevalence at Dimapur, the Nagaland State AIDS Control Society (NSACS) has enlisted the service of Naga Women Hoho Dimapur (NWHD) to help combat this spike by way of spreading awareness on the issue.
After the NWHD members were offered an orientation by the state agency, the former have launched now a three-day campaign on HIV & AIDS awareness in Dimapur. It was launched on Thursday last at New Market, Dimapur.
On Friday, the NWHD shifted their focus towards Supermarket area and conducted a similar program at The Garden. A majority of the audience were women from the nearby localities.
President of NWHD, Hukheli Wotsa, shared that the sexual route is the most common mode of HIV & AIDS transmission. She said that 95% of the cases were through sexual transmission.
Wotsa encouraged the audience to go for blood tests and also to insist the same from their respective partners. Another way to reduce the risk of getting HIV/AIDS was to use condom, she offered, while adding that condoms were available for both men and women.
She also shared that our society still tends to discriminate people living with HIV & AIDS (PLHIVs), especially if the person is a woman. “In cases of women (PLHIVs), the family will banish her. And for men, they do everything to get him married. This is so wrong,” she said.
Wotsa asserted that there should not be discrimination, in any form, on PLHIVs, whether they are men or women.
DC Dimapur, Kesonyü Yhome, briefly highlighted that once the virus gets inside our body, in cases of HIV & AIDS, it never leaves the system. “As long as there is blood in our system, the virus stays. That is why it is called the deadly virus.”
He encouraged the audience to spread the information they have learnt from the event among their friends and neighbors. A similar program will be conducted at Neisato colony, Dimapur on Saturday.
