23 September, 2006
Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev and State Health Minister, Shri K.K.S.S.R Ramachandran flag off Isha Foundation’s latest initiative
Chennai, 23 September, 2006: Coimbatore based Isha Foundation today announced its new AIDS Awareness Programme. This latest initiative by Isha aims to reach out to over 1 lac rural people in Tamil Nadu and was inaugurated by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, Founder – Isha Foundation and Shri K.K.S.S.R Ramachandran, Minister for Health, Tamil Nadu. Also present at the occasion were Dr. S.K Sama, Former Chairman – Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Shri Pongalur N. Palanisamy, M.L.A Coimbatore (East Constituency), Shri Samir Modi, Chairperson – Modicare Foundation and Shri Rajiv Chandran, National Information Officer – United Nations, New Delhi.
Currently, Tamil Nadu has over 52,000 people suffering from HIV/ AIDS. This number has been on a steady rise ever since the first AIDS case surfaced in the state in 1987.
While inaugurating the programme, Sadhguru said, ‘Through the AIDS Awareness Programme, we want to reach out to the masses who have little or no knowledge of AIDS. Information on AIDS and its prevention is not prevalent in the interiors as the subject in itself is taboo. We plan to use unconventional methods like street plays and have those affected by AIDS share their personal stories, along with counseling, to impart knowledge’.
Talking about the Foundation’s latest social initiative, Shri K.K.S.S.R Ramachandran said, ‘Through the AIDS Awareness Programme, Isha has undertaken a bold initiative of spreading awareness and information into the rural areas where knowledge and information is required. I am delighted to inaugurate this endeavor that will benefit lakhs of our fellow men’.
Isha Foundation plans to use the AIDS Awareness Programme as a vehicle to spread AIDS awareness on a large scale in combination with its current Action for Rural Rejuvination (ARR) Programme. Initiated in August 2003, ARR is a pioneering social outreach programme at the grassroots level. The Programme provides basic health care, medical relief and education facilities to over 1250 villages in Tamil Nadu through dedicated mobile vans. With the AIDS Awareness Programme being put into action, these vans will also serve the purpose of educating people about AIDS.
Through the AIDS Awareness Programmes, Isha plans to spread knowledge and dispel commonly held myths about AIDS, its contraction, medication and prevention. As awareness in the interiors of Tamil Nadu is abysmally low, the Foundation is currently focusing on these rural areas.
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