HIV/AIDS haunts Armed Forces: Naval Official

Kochi, Dec 13 (UNI) Southern Naval Command (SNC) Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Vice Admiral Sunil K Damle today said though preventive efforts were taken to check the spread of HIV/AIDS in Armed Forces from 1980s, it continued to haunt the Forces.

Inaugurating a three-day 'HIV/AIDS Workshop for Peer Group Educators', organised by naval hospital INHS Sanjivani here, he said every 13th person in 30 million people living with HIV/AIDS was an Indian and the Armed Forces had not been spared by the dreaded disease.

''We form a highly vulnerable population due to many reasons. HIV affects persons in the prime of their youth when they have the most to offer to family, society and country,'' he said.

Vice Admiral Damle also highlighted the need to create a band of dedicated non-medical personnel, trained as Peer Group Educators, to educate their fellow servicemen about HIV/AIDS.

UNI