Mizoram tackles AIDS with football

AIZAWL, FEB 19 (AGENCIES)
AIDS catches them young, so does the multi-media campaign. And nothing is better than football to prevent Mizo youngsters from high risk behaviours.
The Red Ribbon inter-village football tournament, which is part of the multi-media campaign against HIV/AIDS, reached its climax when Electric Veng Village Council took on Dinthar Village Council teams in the grand finale at the power-packed Assam Rifles Ground in the heart of the city today. Electric Veng team walked home with Rs one lakh in cash and a wild bull, the biggest football prize ever in Mizoram, after beating Dinthar team 2-0.
Addressing the huge gathering prior to the match, State Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla said his government would promote sports, music and fine arts to help the youths stay healthy and productive.
He also announced that the now dusty Assam Rifles Ground would be covered with artificial grass at a cost of Rs 3 crore within this year.
This, he said, was an immediate need as the completion of Rajiv Gandhi Sports Stadium would take some years.
''The aim of the football tournament is to create awareness on drugs and HIV/AIDS among the youth. The tournament has been a big success,'' Health Minister Lalrinliana Sailo said, who attended the function as the guest of honour. Said to be the largest football tournament in Mizoram, as many as 212 teams consisting of 4,000 footballers, took part.
As more than sixty-six per cent of HIV positive people in Mizoram are below 42 years of age, the youth are the target audience of the multi-media campaign against HIV/AIDS.
The campaign had been initiated by the National AIDS Control Society for three North East states of Mizoram, Manipur and Nagaland as the virus had been spreading at an alarming rate in these states, as reported by UNI.
In Mizoram, the campaign is being implemented with a three-pronged strategy jointly by Mizoram State AIDS Control Society (MSACS) and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, in association with cable TV networks.
MSACS and UNODC have also organised Youth Icon 2009, state-level singing contest, during last December with LPS Vision, another initiative of the multi-media campaign.
These have proved effective in imparting HIV awareness among the Mizo youth who are crazy about music and football, they said.
Besides these programmes, the organisers have also tied up with the churches, the most influential institutions in the Christian-dominated state, to conduct HIV awareness campaign across the state.
According to records from the MSACS, 26.31 per cent of the 4,169 HIV positive people detected from the 25 different Integrated Counselling and Testing Centres (ICTC) belonged to 15-25 age group while 40.44 per cent of them were between 25-42 years of age.
The MSACS record stated that 62.36 per cent of HIV positive in Mizoram have been infected through sexual transmission while 29.88 per cent were affected through injecting drug use.
The record highlighted that on December last, 86 of 2,067 blood samples tested were HIV positive. Of this 63 were men and 23 women.
Accordingly, from October 1999 to December 2009, the state housed 4,069 HIV positive people which is on an increasing trend. Since October 1990 to December 2009, 94,550 blood samples had tested positive for HIV/AIDS.