$ 52m fund for AIDS awareness campaign remains unutilised

A fund of $52 million meant for HIV/AIDS awareness campaign remained unutilised due to lack of vision and concerted efforts of the government, speakers said at a workshop in the city yesterday.

They said the World Bank has provided $45 million and another fund of $9 million is in the pipeline, but there is no programme for utilisation of the funds.

Considering the severity of HIV/AIDS, the government has taken up a $58 million project for prevention of the disease, but people are not aware of the government efforts, said Khairuzzaman Kamal, a journalist.

Media for People, a non-government organisation, arranged the workshop titled 'Media for positive attitude towards HIV/AIDS'.

The speakers called on the media to play an active role in raising awareness about the killer disease.

Deputy Leader of the Opposition in Parliament Advocate Abdul Hamid attended the function as chief guest while Zahiruddin Swapan MP was present as special guest.

Journalists Farid Hossain of AP, Shahjahan Sardar of the Ittefaq and Nadeem Qadir of AFP attended the function as guests of honour. Nazrul Isalm, a journalist of The Daily Star, presented the keynote paper.

Nazrul said the government puts the number of HIV patients in the country at 139, but the experts believe the figure would be much higher.

He said 72 lakh people have been infected with HIV in the Asia and Pacific region so far and 4.9 lakh people died in the last one year.

Nazrul urged the government to take appropriate measures immediately to check the spread of the disease.

He also called for a countrywide survey to ascertain the actual number of HIV carriers.

Zahiruddin Sawpan called on the politicians to work hand in hand with the media people to raise awareness about AIDS.