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New Delhi: Handing out disposable syringes to drug users may hardly seem like the way to go about countering HIV/Aids. But N. Nandadevi, who received the Adarsh Stree award given by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for exemplary work in public health, believes it is a pragmatic solution.
"If you have been working in my field long enough, you will realise that simply lecturing people is no solution to any problem," says Nandadevi, a resident of Manipur.
"One of the major reasons for HIV transmission is intravenous drug (ID) use. While we counsel such people in their homes for free, we also distribute disposable syringes, so that at least they don't fall prey to HIV because of shared needles," she said.
The petite 45-year-old is director of the Manipur Voluntary Health Association based in Imphal. The country's northeast is considered a high-risk zone for HIV with close to 40,000 people infected with the virus living there. India is home to 2.5 million HIV/Aids patients.
Since it lies on the edge of the heroin-producing "Golden Triangle" of Laos, Myanmar and Thailand, independent estimates put the number of regular intravenous drug users in the northeastern region at around 300,000.
Manipur is the worst hit by HIV/Aids with more than 25,000 cases of infection.
Most vulnerable group
"Youth are the most vulnerable when it comes to HIV/Aids. Of the 25,000 infected in Manipur, more than 1,000 are children in the age group of 0-15 years," says Nandadevi.
"There are so many complex issues which layer around the issue of HIV/Aids that you just can't have one straight solution to it. For one, the level of awareness in this region is very low. Social activism, in fact, is very low here.
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