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Findings - Srikakulam district
Sex worker:
" My regular partner abuses me and beats me up if I ask him to use condoms. He says, you sleep with other men and ask me to use condoms."
Truckers' spouse:
" We cannot even analyze what and when beating is justifiable ... because we are beaten for everything and nothing."
Truck helper:
" All the villagers treat the positives as untouchables and they are not even allowed to access the drinking water sources."
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HIV / AIDS Stigma & Violence
BHORUKA and The International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW) are collaborating on an action research study examining the dynamics between stigma and intimate partner violence among mobile and mobility - affected populations in and around Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh, India. The key target populations are sex workers, truckers' helpers and truckers' spouses.
This Stigma and Violence Reduction Intervention (SVRI) Project intends to achieve behavioral and attitudinal changes related to stigma and violence as well as adoption of safe sex practices, particularly condom use.
Specifically it proposes to:
• Increase condom use
• Decrease stigmatizing attitude towards HIV positives
• Reduce tolerance of intimate partner violance.
Accomplishments
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Overall mobilization of the community and stakeholders to fight against HIV / AIDS stigma and intimate partner violence. |
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Overwhelming participation of the key target populations i.e. female sex workers, truckers' spouses and truck helpers. |
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More than 150 participated in the transformatory workshops, wherein the problems and solutions were discussed. |
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PLHAs are living in the villages without being discriminated. |
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Village level development committees were reactivated in the communities to work on village development issues like health, sanitation etc. with NGOs and the government. |
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Availablity and accessability of condoms were increased through placing condom boxes in panchayat offices and local shops. |
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The program has been successful in establishing linkages between different service providers. |
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Mobilize media attention on issues related to HIV / AIDS and associated stigma. |
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