India: First AIDS Directory to Be Out Soon

Thanks to the efforts of several Indian and U.S.-based funding agencies and the nongovernmental organization Solidarity and Action Against the HIV Infection in India, the first HIV/AIDS directory for India will debut in about a month.

The directory is a 640-page volume listing names, addresses, and contact information for 1,200 government agencies, NGOs and private counseling centers, in addition to more than 150 funding organizations. "The project involves a comprehensive mapping of HIV/AIDS services provided by government and nongovernment organizations in India. The SAATHII Red Ribbon Pages will be the first of its kind," said Pawan Dhall, development manager for the project.

And the project is already being put to good use. Recently, the chair of SAATHII received an e-mail from a man in Delhi who was concerned that he may have contracted HIV from unprotected sex. The group was able to immediately send him details of HIV/AIDS service organizations close to his residence.

Funding for the SAATHII project was provided in part by U.S.-based agencies John M. Lloyd, the foundation Global Strategies for HIV Prevention, and UNAIDS. Contributors of research and data collection work included the gay rights group Integration Society and the Naz Foundation. "It took a year of painstaking research to compile the data and we hope that in another month the Web site as well as the book will be ready for distribution," said SAATHII Chair Venkatesan Chakrapani.

The electronic version of the directory will soon have a searchable database for users at www.saathii.org.

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