Methodology: Interviews, Surveys
Language: Marathi
Catalysts: Kiran Sawant
Youth Fellows:
Kiran Sawant
Rupali Sawant
Shraddha Pawar
Rupali Shetkar
Neelam Kamble
Varsha Agare
Sachin Lungse
Coordinator: Kapil Chavan
About the Subject:
AIDS is a serious disease but most youth do not have the clear knowledge regarding its causes, transmission and impact on health. While there is huge stigma about it, very few people seem to know about that AIDS can be contracted by means other than sexuality and when thinking of safety measures, all the causes of AIDS need to be known. Kiran and his friends decided to evaluate what does youth actually know and feel about this issue.
Challenges & Learning’s:
Most of the youth equated AIDS only to sexuality and somehow connected it to immorality. This prevented them from trying to acquire proper information about its transmission unrelated to sex like usage of dirty needles or blood transfusion or perinatal transmission. There was hesitation in talking about it and many were unwilling to fill up the survey forms unless anonymity was promised by the researchers.
Conclusion:
Many youth are totally unaware of the other modes of transmission of AIDS and hence they do not know about the ways of prevention. They are fearful of the moral stigma and hence avoid asking for information about the topic. They also seem to have huge misunderstandings regarding the transmission of AIDS.
End Product:
They designed a T-Shirt which depicted the following:
A: Awareness
I: Information
D: Decorum
S: Safe Sex
