Report: WAD 2011 – SOWING THE SEED

MDACS (Mumbai District AIDS Control Society) and MAVIM (Mahila Arthik Vikas Mahamandal) came together to conduct HITGUJ AROGYACHE, an advocacy workshop targeting women from the lower strata of society.

The objective of the 2-day workshop 

• To empower women with knowledge on HIV/AIDS – prevention, treatment, care, support, STI management, safer sex practice and MDACS services that are available for all these.
• The women were also made aware of the stigma and discrimination that could possibly occur in society.

The Target Group

• This consisted of 9 Sahayoginis; 2 staff members; representatives from 26 pockets; representatives of Basti Level Committee; LoksanchalitSadhan Kendra and NGOs.
• 35 women participated in the workshop conducted on April 26 & 27, 2011.

The plan for 2011-12 

• To reach out to 7000 women beneficiaries of 500 SHGs (Self-Help Groups) that are found all around Mumbai. They will give correct and consistent knowledge to their family members. This means that MDACS will actually reach out to 21,000 people (SC, Minority and others from slum areas & BPL category) of Mumbai.

The Mission

• Special IEC material was printed and distributed to AROGYA SAKHIs and the people they had planned to reach out to. These were in Marathi and Hindi.
• 123 peer educators (Arogyasakhis) were trained through 4 more workshops that were organised to ensure that they reach out to the target.
• These 123 Arogyasakhis were to reach out to 7000 women beneficiaries of 500 SHGs (Self-Help Groups) that are found all around Mumbai. They will give correct and consistent knowledge to their family members.

Achievements

• Publicity was made in advance at all the locations where the World AIDS Day programme was to be conducted.
• The political leaders who were in charge locally were all invited to be involved in the activities, taking the awareness to a different level altogether.
• Through the 75 street-plays that were performed, a crowd of 13,359 people were reached as against the target of 7000.
• In all, MDACS reached out to 40,077 people belonging to SC, Minority and others from slum areas and BPL category of Mumbai City.
• The major breakthrough was that the 123 Arogyasakhis could reach out to the kind of women who used to hesitate even to talk about sex to their own husbands.

Result:

• The workshops helped the slum women come into their own. They were so well trained that they could spread the word on HIV / AIDS prevention to the other women in their own areas, with confidence.
• This resulted in their acquiring their own identity in society and respect among their peers.
• More than all that, these women gained a lot of respect at home, where generally they were treated like doormats before.

IMPACT

The success story of the Arogyasakhis gave birth to the concept of WORLD AIDS DAY 2011.

THE PLAN

A meeting was set up to plan the concept to be adopted during the World AIDS Day campaign this year. It was planned over five days at five different venues across Mumbai City.

The objective was to mobilize women from across Mumbai city in these 5 zones and use Entertainment Education as a format to bring about awareness on HIV.

Games were played with these women where the following messages were given out through entertainment:

• HIV, modes of transmission
• Myths and Misconceptions
• Prevention
• Services of MDACS
               1. Testing
               2. STI
               3. ART
               4. Helpline

A celebrity was to be invited on each day who would give these messages. Advocacy through these celebrities definitely would result in an impact.

WORLD AIDS DAY 2010 - REPORT

THE OBJECTIVE


     This World AIDS Day, the main target was the migrant intervention program and strategy as designed by NACO. The main objective for this is to reach out to all those people who leave their hometowns and come to Mumbai for the sake of earning. These people leave their wives behind and stay in the city for months on end. These are generally from the uneducated public who take low income jobs and lead a hand-to-mouth existence.

     The migrants have the maximum chance of contracting HIV / AIDS when they have physical relationship with sex workers. They were the main targets this year as it was imminent that they be made aware of their risky existence. There is a high chance that their wives will also be exposed to the problem when they travel home once or twice in a year.

Taking away the stigma against condom

Lifestyle of migrants:


•    They hail from a small town outside Mumbai
•    Come to Mumbai in search of employment
•    Live in scattered localities with other migrants
•    Works everyday – daily wage / irregular wage cycle / low wage earner
•    He is a single male away from his wife and family – so tends to stray
•    Returns to his home town during holidays / important occasions


     Hence, it was decided that the migrants should be the primary target this year for WAD activities and the Mumbai District AIDS Control Society (MDACS) organised the following activities on the occasion of WORLD AIDS DAY 2010 (WAD 2010).


     Why is this time of the year considered the best for targeting migrants? Well, most of them usually go home for the different festivals and get back to their place of work – to Mumbai – in this case. This is when almost all of them are in the city and targeting them at this point gives maximum impact to the whole migrant population.

OUR STRATEGY

Light pole kiosk

•    Create an impact by gaining the attention of the migrant – making him aware of HIV.

Behind BEST Bus

•    Removing stigma from the word ‘condom’ and making them familiar with condoms. Also create enough impact so that there is correct and consistent use of condoms.


•    Conducting on-ground activities and reaching out to migrants on a one-to-one basis and scaling up the activity across all areas where migrants live.


•    Amplification of the impact, word of mouth and scalability of the activity through various media and press coverage.


•    The medium used for targeting the migrants were the public transportation systems of Mumbai, namely trains and buses. These are the mode of transport used by migrants and hence the perfect medium to convey the message to them.   

Hoarding at Bandra Circle

BUILD UP to the activities surrounding WAD 2010


•    Hoardings of HIV / AIDS awareness were put up on bus shelters, five railway terminals; on the backs of BEST buses and light poll kiosks.


•    Radio advertisements were given to create awareness amongst migrants about the many campaigns being conducted especially for them on the occasion of World AIDS Day. These were run on Radio City with 7 days build up to WAD & 7 days during activity.


•    Some television channels like IBN Lokmat & Star Majha also announced multiple option questions that required to be answered via SMSes. This was on December 1, 2010.

Suraksha Special

Press Release

•    On December 1, 2010, more than 15 newspapers – including English, Hindi and Marathi – had advertisements in the guise of solved crosswords reinstating the message to use condoms for protection against HIV / AIDS.


•    On the same day, a local train called SURAKSHA SPECIAL was launched at the stroke of dawn. These had a number of messages targeting migrants and spreading awareness.


•    Interestingly crafted SMSes – “cover chadawoh phir rail daudawoh” and more – were sent to the mobiles of migrants. These numbers were acquired by using the pin code of migrant pockets in the city. The SMSes were sent to 10 lakh migrants on December 1, 2010.

Crossword in newspapers

THE ACTIVITIES


     MDACS organised a ten-day-long special campaign on the occasion of World AIDS Day from 1st December to 10th December 2010. The activities conducted are as follows:


1.    Red Flash Mob - Walkathon: 1st December 2010

Walkathon takes off

     This event was organized on December 1, 2010. The walkathon was an attempt to communicate to the public ‘to protect themselves’. The walkathon was organized from Azad Maidan to Marine Lines and was flagged off by Mrs. Mate, Honorable Chairperson, Health Committee, MCGM.


     All stakeholders - TI NGOs, ICTC I/C and counselors, STI I/C and counselors, Red Ribbon Club members, partners, college students took part in The Walkathon. They wore red T- shirts that sported a message and held placards and banners consisting of awareness messages. They distributed red ribbons to everyone. The entire activity received huge PR mileage from various media – Press, Radio, and Television.

Candles for PL HIVs no more with us

     The walkathon began with 1500 participants at Azad Maidan and swelled to a huge number of 3000 on the way as the public joined in the procession before it reached Marine Drive.


     The walkathon ended opposite Taraporewala Aquarium where candles were lighted in the memory of PL HIVs who are no more with us.


2.    Red Road Show: 10 DAYS  (December 1 - 10, 2010)

Inauguration of Red Road Show

     The Red Road Show was arranged for 10 days in the migrant hot spots of Mumbai City in association with the TI NGOs. An SMS led contest was conducted with the objective to remove the stigma and shyness about condoms in which people had to guess the number of condoms displayed on the float in the shape of a 50000 Rs note. This float was launched from MDACS.


     The float travelled to various migrant hot spots. The message displayed on the float was Kitne condom se saja hai ye note batao aur rupaiya 50000 le jao.  The winner of the contest, Mr. Rajesh Gupta, a rickshaw driver from Govandi, was awarded Rs. 50,000 during the Closing Ceremony in the MDACS compound. The prize money of Rs. 50,000 was sponsored by DKT India.

Over the whole time span, 35,000 plus people were exposed to the show. 

Sticker activity

3.    Sticker Activity: 6 DAYS

     A six-day-long sticker activity was arranged during the rush hour on local trains as well as on BEST Buses where the activists in crowded places placed AIDS awareness stickers on people. The activity was done in a way that effectively communicated that:


•    AIDS can happen to any one
•    The need is to always be responsible and use a condom


     There was excellent response with local travelers showing enthusiasm in sporting the sticker, and be a part of the awareness drive.


28795 commuters were witness to the sticker activity this year. 

4.    One minute play (Pickpocket activity)

Hindi Newspaper - pickpocket activity

Press Release

This was a one-minute drama where a pickpocket steals a man’s wallet in a crowded place, (they were both actors) and instead of escaping, the pickpocket draws attention to himself by calling out to the victim. A loud dialogue between the pickpocket and the victim says that this is exactly how HIV could pick on anyone if they’re not careful.


“Pata bhi nahi chalega, aur ho jayega…” and the message was ‘be alert, be responsible – Use a Condom’


This activity was arranged for 5 days during rush hour in Local trains as well as in BEST Buses. (Dates?)


The Pickpocket activity reached out to 17500 plus commuters on buses and trains.

5.    Closing ceremony of the campaign

Grand Finale - Entertainment

     The Closing Ceremony was held on December 10, 2010 at Mumbai Districts AIDS Control Society, Acworth Complex, Wadala.


•    It began with the department of IEC (Information-Education-Communication) presenting the highlights of the year.
•    The occasion was used to felicitate those who voluntarily helped the IEC department in collaborations and enabled the spread of knowledge about HIV/AIDS in the society.
•    The winner of the Red Road Show was announced on the same day and Mr. Rakesh Gupta, an auto driver, was awarded Rs. 50000 by MDACS and DKT jointly.
•    There was also a dance program to entertain the crowd and was well received.

Mr. Rajesh Gupta awarded Rs. 50000 prize cheque

What the newspapers have to say about World Aids Day 2010


A number of newspapers - English, Hindi, Gujarati & Marathi - had a lot to say about the activities surrounding WAD 2010 that were conducted by MDACS.

Pudhari

Times of India

Gujarat Samachar