HIV/AIDS Prevention & Reproductive Health Project

y communities that are not
included in the project and by
men who also partly felt
neglected.
A common activity of women
groups is to organize public
events on occasions such as
condoms' day and the World
AIDS Day. Other popular
activities are song competitions
and street drama performances
with different topics on HIV.
One women group, mainly
comprising Dalits, was proud to
have won a prize in a song
competition. Different groups
had performed several street
dramas in the last year. Most of
the women who have their
husband working outside of
Nepal send a standardized letter
on HIV prevention targeting
migrant workers. One district
alone sent around 300 letters to
migrant workers throughout
the project phase and received
15 responses from the
migrants. Initiatives of women
with regard to face-to-face HIV
prevention are more difficult.
Women find it challenging to
open discussions on these
issues and in most cases appear
to limit these talks to close
friends.
Project
outcomes
Generally, families and
communities have become
more open towards issues
related to SRH. Moreover,
support of the community with
regard to the work of PEs has
IMPRESSIONS OF YOUTH MEETING PLWHA
A group of PE from Dolakha that met a positive person
commented: "With his healthy and active looks he will probably
live for 20 more years." "He shared with us his views about
positive living and it was an amazing experience listening to him,"
said a PE from High School in Dolakha. "Getting to know about
him and learn about how he was making himself a productive
member of society was an inspiring story to listen to," the 10th
grader said. "I got to learn from him that positive thinking is
absolutely necessary once someone has been infected with HIV
and that care and support would make a lot of difference in the
lives of those who have been infected with HIV."
RECOGNIZING SYMPTOMS OF HIV AND AIDS
I am Sarita from Pang V.D.C. ward no. 2 in Parbat. I am a member
of the women group. I have 12 members in my family. My husband
worked for 8-9 years in Mumbai. When he returned he was very sick
and died three years ago. During the training for the women group, I
realized that my husband was HIV positive. When I talked to him,
the trainer suggested me to visit the Voluntary Counselling and
Testing centre in Kaski. I went there, received counselling and was
tested. Thank God, it was negative! I realize now how much I was
deprived of the information. There are many cases of death - like my
husband - in my village. But there was nobody with whom we could
talk. Therefore, we talk about HIV issues to our friends and the
community and motivate people to participate in the activities like
rallies, street drama shows, folk song competitions etc. organized
by Mahila Samuha (Women Group).
KNOWLEDGE SHARING BEYOND BORDERS
I am Narahari from Parbat. Currently, I am working in Malaysia. My
friends and I are thankful for receiving a letter from your
organization, which contains message about HIV and AIDS and
how it transmits, how we can avoid the transmission and how to
behave with a person testing HIV positive. As we found this
information important we have photocopied the letter and sent it to
our other fellows working in different factories and cities across
Malaysia. Sending the letter made me feel important contributing to
the prevention of the disease in our country.
CAPITALIZATION STUDY
HIV/AIDS Prevention and Reproductive Health Project
NRCS/SDC 2000-2007
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