Spreading AIDS awareness through music

October 15th, 2011 - 11:43 pm ICT by IANS  

Dimapur (Nagaland), Oct 15 (IANS) Appealing to youths to be careful about diseases like AIDS and asking them to stay away from drugs, well-known musician Vishwa Mohan Bhatt Saturday said focus on values and music will keep people away from harm.

“Be pious, be pure, be happy and make others happy,” said Bhatt, the 1994 Grammy Award winner and inventor of the Mohan Veena at a rock music event here organised by the Nagaland State AIDS Control Society (NSACS).

Eleven rock bands representing an equal number of districts in Nagaland entertained the crowd, drawing to an end the month-long ‘NSACS Rock Aware: Red Ribbon Superstar Campaign’.

Speaking on the occasion Nandira Changkija, project director, NSACS, said: “The campaign has been able to reach out to thousands of students and youths residing in far-flung and remote areas.”

“The strategy of connecting with the youth through music has been a huge success, a conventional awareness campaign with sessions on HIV and drug use would have failed to achieve the scale that this campaign has done so far.”

“Rock music is one medium youths in the northeast identify with. It is an effective channel through which we can spread awareness and address stigma and discrimination related to AIDS,” said Rosenara Huidrom, team leader at the National AIDS Control Organisation’s Guwahati office.

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