Mumbai:
Workers coming to Mumbai will be counselled on fidelity and safe sex at railway stations and bus depots in their home states.
This year, the government-run Mumbai District AIDS Control Society (MDACS) has decided to take the 'source at destination' approach wherein their staffers, in co-ordination with local NGOs, will counsel migrant workers preparing to leave for Mumbai at transport hubs of their respective states.
Migrants will be advised to persuade workers to remain loyal to their wives and use condoms to practice safe sex
Dr S S Kudalkar explained the initiative saying, "If I am travelling to Delhi, I will have spare time at Mumbai airport but once I reach Delhi, I would immediately want to leave for my hotel there. This is why we are sending our workers to railway stations and bus depots where migrant workers can be counselled at the source. Once they reach Mumbai, they scatter quickly and unlike sex workers, are not concentrated in a brothel or a particular area. Also at their native places, they can be counselled in their own languages and before they start their journey, they are aware of AIDS."
The current target group for MDACS is 1.15 lakh migrant workers and they hope to counsel up to 2.2 lakhs by next year.
"Currently, around 40 per cent of migrant workers indulge in high risk sexual activity in Mumbai and most have families back home. So the HIV rate among pregnant women in UP and Bihar villages is as high as 60 per cent. The infection is then carried on to children," said Dr Harish Pathak, additional project director.
Pathak added that the first round of advice would aim to persuade workers to remain loyal to their wives.
"The next is to encourage them to use condoms but since they think that condoms decreases pleasure, it is hard to convince many to do so," he said.
Among migrant workers targeted by MDACS, the majority hail from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu while truckers mostly hail from Rajasthan and Punjab.
This year, the government-run Mumbai District AIDS Control Society (MDACS) has decided to take the 'source at destination' approach wherein their staffers, in co-ordination with local NGOs, will counsel migrant workers preparing to leave for Mumbai at transport hubs of their respective states.
Migrants will be advised to persuade workers to remain loyal to their wives and use condoms to practice safe sex
Dr S S Kudalkar explained the initiative saying, "If I am travelling to Delhi, I will have spare time at Mumbai airport but once I reach Delhi, I would immediately want to leave for my hotel there. This is why we are sending our workers to railway stations and bus depots where migrant workers can be counselled at the source. Once they reach Mumbai, they scatter quickly and unlike sex workers, are not concentrated in a brothel or a particular area. Also at their native places, they can be counselled in their own languages and before they start their journey, they are aware of AIDS."
The current target group for MDACS is 1.15 lakh migrant workers and they hope to counsel up to 2.2 lakhs by next year.
"Currently, around 40 per cent of migrant workers indulge in high risk sexual activity in Mumbai and most have families back home. So the HIV rate among pregnant women in UP and Bihar villages is as high as 60 per cent. The infection is then carried on to children," said Dr Harish Pathak, additional project director.
Pathak added that the first round of advice would aim to persuade workers to remain loyal to their wives.
"The next is to encourage them to use condoms but since they think that condoms decreases pleasure, it is hard to convince many to do so," he said.
Among migrant workers targeted by MDACS, the majority hail from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu while truckers mostly hail from Rajasthan and Punjab.
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