(Augut 08, 2006): -Local leaders from across rural India are to draw up an action
plan to help stem the spread of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in villages, where the
majority of new infections are occuring, officials said on Monday. AIDS agencies
say that of the 5.2 million people infected between the ages of 15 and 49 years
in India, almost 60 percent are in rural communities, where poverty, ignorance
and gender disparities have left people more vulnerable to the disease. They add
that village and district administrators have the power to spread awareness at
the grassroots. " Denis Broun, UNAIDS country coordinator for India, told a news
conference, "It is very important to come closer to the people, and this is the
reason why there is an important movement in getting the engagement of these people, who
are closest to the population and who are their immediate representatives." Broun
said that representatives from 620 districts, as well and mayors and other community
leaders, would come together for the first time at a convention on Tuesday, to
draw up a strategy on how India could strengthen its local response to the pandemic.