A success story from Tamil Nadu in the field of HIV-AIDS prevention and control, involving education and communication paradigms that bring about changes in healthcare-seeking behaviour.

• The project's innovation was the engagement of “high-risk group members” as community health personnel
• This collaboration between government and civil society has emerged as a model public-private partnership

A recent project review and experience-sharing meeting with non-governmental organisations engaged in the care of HIV-affected people in Tamil Nadu was an enriching and gratifying experience for a team from the Voluntary Health Services (VHS), Chennai.

It was in 1986 that Tamil Nadu reported the first case of HIV-AIDS infection. That it had reached Indian shores made all concerned sit up and consider the implications. The response from the governments of India and Tamil Nadu together with the United States AID Agency (USAID) was comprehensive. A tripartite agreement was reached among USAID, the government and the VHS. The VHS-APAC project began in earnest in 1995, under the stewardship of Dr. N.S. Murali, Honorary Secretary, working with marginalised communities to reduce the transmission of HIV-AIDS in Tamil Nadu through the sexual route.

Changing behaviour

The concept as developed and implemented by VHS-APAC is unique. Rather than focus on traditional healthcare intervention models, VHS-APAC chose to work through education and communication paradigms that bring about changes in healthcare-seeking behaviour. With unsafe sexual practices, poor disease recognition and delays in seeking healthcare support being at the core of the HIV-AIDS epidemic, these interventions have put particular focus on high-risk groups, while aiming to bring about sexual behaviour change in society as a whole.

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