Youth for noble cause

Indo Asian News ServiceBhopal, December 19, 2006

Youth for a noble causeUnite for Children, Unite Against AIDS aims at engaging the young to prevent the spread of the diseaseThe programme aims to achieve results in preventing parent-to-child transmission, providing pediatric treatment to affected children and providing treatment to affected childrenThe programme is in association with Unicef and the Madhya Pradesh State AIDS Control Society

Hundreds of students in Madhya Pradesh took part in an AIDS awareness campaign and vowed to do their bit to control the fatal virus.The students tied suraksha bandhan (protection bands) on their wrists on Sunday to symbolise their awareness of HIV and their commitment to spread awareness on HIV and AIDS.

The students were participants in a workshop organised by the Makhanlal Chaturvedi University of Journalism in Bhopal as part of a ‘Unite for Children, Unite Against AIDS’ drive aimed at engaging the young to prevent the deadly disease. The campaign, in association with the Madhya Pradesh State AIDS Control Society (MPSACS) and Unicef, aims to achieve measurable results in preventing parent-to-child transmission, providing pediatric treatment for HIV children, preventing HIV infection among the youth and providing treatment for affected children. “We need to be equipped with the right knowledge and young people can help spread awareness and the right information,” said Unicef state representative Hamid El Bashir. He said that worldwide millions of children, adolescents and youngsters are at risk and in need of protection. Across the world millions of children under the age of 15 have lost one or both parents to AIDS. “More disturbing is that HIV/AIDS is now engulfing the ‘productive population’ in the age group of 20-40 years. With the exposure teens and youth are getting through television, they have started experimenting with sex at an early age, further aggravating the problem,” said an MPSACS official

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