Kudos to the Forum

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

I am very happy to be a part of this Forum. Since we are not a grassroot level

organization we do not always get to interact with local people directly from

the community. We as a media organization are aware of all the trends and

activties, and a Forum like this really helps me to get first-hand information

so efficiently.

The daily postings of news clippings by AIDS-India also keeps me on track. The

many statictics, activites and events like Internatinal AIDS Day, the VCTC

centres, the latest news from NACO, the initiatives, developments and success

stories inspire me to think about the role of media in these spheres.

Being in the media, I think we can contribute a lot towards the projects that

the various NGOs/CBOs and other organizations undertake. The role of media can

never be underscored. HIV/AIDS is one of those issues that do more harm from the

myths that surround it than the actual physical disease because, for example,

when some one discloses his or her positive status the stigma and discrimination

that the person must face is unthinkable.

Many a times the stories are wrongly reported and amongst all the hue and cry

the real point is always missed - that AIDS need not kill or it doesnot spread

just by coming into contact with a positive person. If the mental health of the

affected person is kept under less strain then it would do so much good to the

person.

I believe in such circumstances media can play a big role. Proper

information dissimenation lies at the root of things. So many of you are working

towards just that and Drik India as a media organization would be too happy to

assist you with developing coomunication modules by through generating concepts,

ideas and printing publications.

This is an open letter to all who are interested to let us be a part of your

endeavours. Thanking you all,

With warm regards,

Supreeta Singh

Communication and Media Relations

Drik India

Email: supreeta@... / supreetasingh@...