‘JEEVA’ AIDS PROGRAM IN TAMIL NADU:
The ‘Jeeva’ AIDS Program was initiated in 1993 to help with AIDS education and the care and support of HIV-infected women in the Chennai district of Tamil Nadu, one of the states most affected by HIV/AIDS in India.
The program began with an assessment of the HIV/AIDS epidemic among people in Chennai. Based upon these findings, an AIDS education and prevention program was developed that educated the affected communities and provided shelter for HIV infected women. This program lasted for five years. Although it had to be discontinued due to lack of funding, IHO is now trying to expand this modest initiative into a larger program that will provide large-scale AIDS prevention and care and support for those infected with HIV or at-risk of infection.
IHO has constructed a capacity development program for health functionaries working on HIV/AIDS, for several states in India including Tamil Nadu. The program called the Regional AIDS Training Center & Network for Eastern India (RATNEI) will train health functionaries in eastern and northeastern India in all aspects of HIV/AIDS prevention, control and treatment.
IHO is also interested in extending community health programs in the rural areas of Tamil Nadu to focus upon prevention, control and treatment of water-borne diseases, immunization for children, and health education and training for women.
Unfortunately this program has been discontinued; however, it may be revived once sufficient funding is received.