CHAI unveils plans to spread AIDS awareness, provide healthcare to poor

Calcutta, Nov. 15, 2004 – The Catholic Health Association of India (CHAI), one of the largest NGOs in India, has revealed its plans to promote AIDS awareness in schools and villages.

CHAI, which has more than 3,200 member institutions, recently disclosed its decision on AIDS awareness following the association's national convention, which was held end–October in Calcutta. Around 550 members attended the convention on the theme: "Health for the marginalized."

CHAI executive director Father Sebastian Ousepparampil quoted government statistics putting the official number of people in India with HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), which usually leads to AIDS, at 5.1 million.

In fact, however, India has "many more" people with HIV/AIDS, asserted Fr. Ousepparampil, who has been associated with CHAI for the last 20 years. The priest also worked 10 years as administrator of the Indian bishops' first medical school, St. John's Medical College, in Bangalore.

According to the Church health official, the college began treating AIDS patients in 1992, receiving up to three people a month, which was then considered "shocking." Now it has an AIDS wing that gets about 15 people every day, he said.

Beyond the problem of AIDS, Fr. Ousepparampil lamented that good health care remains "a distant dream" for 90 percent of Indians.

CHAI president Holy Cross Sister Vijaya Sharma said the association now wanted to attend more to the health needs of villagers and the marginalized.

"People's health is in people's hands," said the nun, a medical doctor who has worked in villages for 25 years. She pointed out that health–care specialists and infrastructure are concentrated in urban areas and do not cater to the needs of villagers and the poor.

Elaborating on the AIDS initiative, sister Sharma said the association would provide treatment and care for HIV/AIDS patients, conduct counseling for them and their families, and strive to prevent the spread of HIV.

Father Reginald Fernandes, director of Calcutta archdiocese's social service society, welcomed the move to promote education on AIDS through schools. He has been a social worker for the past 20 years.

The archdiocese has cooperated closely with the West Bengal state government to launch an AIDS education program in six schools in Calcutta.

Church health–care workers started CHAI in 1943 as the Catholic Hospital Association of India that was later renamed as the Catholic Health association of India.