Reporter's diary: TANSACS, HIV doesn’t care about marital status

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society (Tansacs) is one of the major wings of the State Health Department. Since the department is known for its major contribution towards HIV AIDS control and prevention for over 20-plus years, it prides itself on having a scientific approach towards creating awareness, treatment and management of the disease.

However,TANSACS’s recent campaign on HIV AIDS shared on its social media handle was a total disappointment, and wrong scientifically.

On account of World AIDS Day, TANSACS released a campaign that focused on abstinence as the way to prevent AIDS. It also illustrated a woman to have been infected because she was sexually active before marriage.

This completely overlooked the fact that HIV can spread through sexual contact irrespective of the marital status of an individual. Moreover, 2022’s World AIDS Day theme highlighted the promotion of equality to prevent discrimination of patients.

TANSACS clearly missed the memo!

Instead of sending the right message — use protection during sex and avoid sharing of needles, the campaign was preachy and added to the already existing stigma around HIV AIDS.

Rightfully so, the post received backlash from a lot of people on the social media platform for moral policing women and sharing unscientific information about one of the most stigmatised diseases.