Bhopal, Mar 28: United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Regional Technical Centre, FPA India, Bhopal on Friday organised a dissemination meet to release Hindi version of India Report card on "Vulnerability of young women and HIV/AIDS". This report card has been prepared by International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and UNFPA and translated in Hindi by FPA India, RTC, Bhopal.

Representatives from donor agencies, NGOs, Civil Society Organisations and other philanthropists working with Young Women and Girls participated in this event. Ms Kiran Awasthy, Chairperson, FPA India, in her welcome address said that awareness regarding HIV is low among young women and girls. Madhya Pradesh is a low prevalence but highly vulnerable state. This report card aims to provide HIV prevention strategies and services for girls and young women in India. Dr Jyoti Benawri, Manager Medical & Training briefed the contents of the report card.

The Report card was released by Omesh Mundra, Director, MPSACS. He said that coordinated & collaborative efforts of various agencies would help in formulating strategies and combating the disease. Ms Shraddha Bose, Deputy Director MPSACS spoke about HIV/AIDS scenario in India with focus on young women & girls. Programmatic interventions during NACPII and planning for NACP III were also briefed. Presentations were made three NGOs on Trafficking and HIV/AIDS: Vulnerability of Young women in MP Ms Archana Sahay, Director Aarambh shared the report of Aarambh- UNDP- TAHA project. Vikas Jain, Project Manager, Mahila Samiti, Chhatarpur and Dubey from Satya Shodhan Aashram, Sagar shared their experiences on working on the issue of trafficking. In the end, an open session on "Use of HIV Report card in context of MP scenario" was organised. Dr PK Deo, Programme coordinator UNFPA, Hamid Ul Bashir UNICEF Chief, Dr LB Asthana, Deputy Director Training and Yamagatha Yoichi from JICA were among the panelists. Vote of thanks was given by Jose Thomas, RTC Coordinator, FPAIndia, Bhopal.