BELLARY

1. In place of the existing counselling Centre a 40-bed HIV/AIDS Care Centre was started from May'01 with partial support from the National AIDS Control Organisation(NACO).

CENTRE REPORTS

BANGALORE HIV/AIDS CENTRE

STAFFING
Currently we have 15 Staff members who manage the day-to-day work. One of our Doctors and a Counsellor moved to Hyderabad to start the new Centre there. 2 new Counsellors and a Psychologist have been appointed. We have a more balanced team of residential staff now, consisting of 2 Counsellors and a Nurse.

All the Counsellors have been sent to CMC Vellore, for Specilised Training in HIV/AIDS counselling.

CARE AND SUPPORT

• Medical : With 2 Doctors in attendance the patients have access to a medical person at all times. We strive to manage all infections. We undertake LP's and sputum investigations so as to be able to diagnosis brain and TB infection and manage them appropriately.
  
  Pain Management is a prime focus in cases of AIDS and no patient needs to die in pain. Various painkillers are used. In cases of more severe pain we enroll patients at St. John's Hospital Palliative Care Clinic.
  
  The year also witnessed a steep fall in the prices of Antiretroviral medicines, enabling more patients to be treated with these medications. As on 31st Dec'01, 28 patients were on Antiretroviral therapy.

• Nursing : With 4 full time nurses, nursing care is available round the clock. Drip-feeding, Ryles tube feeding, Catheterization, Nebulization, Oxygen and end-stage care are being carried out.

• Psychological : This happens to be the most important segment of care. Group support meetings coupled with one-to-one counselling have not only improved the knowledge of the patients about their illness, but also help to strengthen their coping mechanism. Issues of suicide, anger, depression, anxiety, grief, death, rejection and isolation have been addressed by the able assistance of our Counsellors and Social Workers

• Peer Support : FF has continuously strived to empower Positive persons to begin helping themselves and live lives of dignity. 45% of our staff are positive persons - a figure we hope to increase to 50. Our children's section is looked after by one of the peer counsellors. Groups of positive patients have been sent to Positive Network monthly support meetings. We also have a peer out-reach team which visits People Living With HIV/AIDS(PLWHA) at various hospitals and conducts counselling.

LABORATORY
We continue to handle an increase in Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) cases. Our lab handles all investigations (except the advanced ones), which helps in saving time, inconvenience to the patients and costs.

AWARENESS
FF continues to make its contribution to increasing awareness levels. At all our programmes, we have introduced the component of sensitization. We did 6 programmes at various locations for women and children, 2 for college students, 1 for slum dwellers and 13 for Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation at their various bus depots.

WORLD AIDS DAY
Many TV Channels and Newspapers published articles on AIDS prepared by FF. Badges and pamphlets were distributed to the public by our staff. On World AIDS Day, a March was conducted in the centre of the City and was flagged off by the Health Minister, Sri. Maalaka Reddy. It was led by our positive children and staff and Marchers from many city colleges, the NSS, Software Companies, other NGOs and PLWHAs.

POSITIVE CHILDREN
The Foundation's greatest concern is of the rapidly increasing number of Positive children and children of Positive parents in the country. We have 16 children, all HIVpositive and orphans, staying permanently at our Centre. Their ages range from 1½ years to 14 years. Nearly all are schooling and doing well in class. Besides giving them recreational facilities, we have trained them for computer usage and sent some of them for dance classes. 7 of these children are on Antiretroviral therapy. 4 of them designed greeting cards, which we have printed and sold to the public as an income generation scheme. Besides the residents children, we have had nearly 180 others who have come in as out-patients.

• STAFFING
  Besides a Chief Counsellor and 4 Counsellors, 2 more Counsellors with Post Graduate Degrees(one with a doctorate) were appointed, while our policy continues to train and employ Ex-addicts as Counsellors and Residential Staff. One of the Counsellors was sent to CMC Vellore for training in HIV/AIDS Counseling.
• TREATMENT MODEL Through its Bio-psycho-social model, the Centre has restructured its protocol of treatment to cover a wider range of addiction problems.
• GROUP THERAPY As a part of treatment process, it has now been limited to 15 clients per group and conducted on a daily basis.
• FAMILY COUNSELLING With the appointment of a Family Counsellor, family members are counselled under the co-dependency programme.
• DUAL DIAGNOSIS A panel of Psychiatrists/Psychologists attends to the psychiatric disorders of the clients.
• NETWORKING FF networks with other NGOs working with addiction treatment and takes a leading part in the De-addiction Network of NIMHANS.
• AWARENESS PROGRAMMES FF continues to conduct awareness, prevention and sensitization programmes to Educational institutions, Govt. and Non-Govt. organizations, and the Corporate Sector.
• HIV LINK The strong link between Addictions and HIV, has made it necessary for increasing awareness levels about HIV/AIDS for our clients. Regular inputs regarding HIV and HIV testing are conducted.

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LABORATORY
A Laboratory was started in June 2001, with a qualified Lab-Technician, to conduct basic medical investigations for in and out-patients. This saves much time and money as most of the hospitals/labs are located far away.

AWARENESS PROGRAMMES
Regular awareness programmes have been conducted for target groups such as truck drivers, factory and office workers, Commercial Sex Worker's(CSWs), Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation(KSRTC), jail inmates, educational institutions, and the general public. Totally 30 programmes were conducted

WORLD AIDS DAY
World AIDS Day was observed on 1st December 2001, also on 2nd December 2001, with a college debate competition, awareness programmes for rice mill and saw mill workers, lectures on HIV for truckers. An information counter was kept open for two days at Bellary Central Bus stand where nearly 1000 passengers were educated through pamphlets, lectures and video shows. The Rotary Club of Bellary Central provided much support.

SIRUGUPPA PROJECT
The project to rehabilitate CSW's has been operational since February 2001 at Siruguppa, which is 55Kms from Bellary with support from KSAPS. 19 awareness programmes were conducted, Medical checkups and testing carried-out and condoms distributed by our field workers. A permanent counselling Centre will be opened shortly.

HYDERABAD

KARL SEQUEIRA, Executive Trustee moved to Hyderabad in February'01 to start and run the 2 Centres there.

DE-ADDICTION CENTRE
FF functions from a residential house in Sikh Village, Secunderabad, with a 15-client capacity, and a 100 day residential treatment programme. The Centre was full to its capacity for most of the year. 3 Counsellors, 3 Support staff, one Doctor, 2 Office staff look after the Centre.

HIV/AIDS CENTRE
The Centre was started as a 35-bed Centre in March with just 4 patients but soon filled up. A Doctor and a Counsellor were transferred from Bangalore to take charge of the Centre.

The Centre was officially inaugurated by the Health Minister of Andhra Pradesh and a Souvenir released in this connection. Through this souvenir the Centre was able to collect funds for its development. Ms. Amala the Cine actress has been a prominent well-wisher of the Centre right from its inception.

Patients Profile from March - December'01 at A.P.

CONFERENCES
Freedom Foundation took part in many conferences in both fields of AIDS and Addictions all over the country and presented papers at some. Ashok Rau, Executive Trustee, has been in great demand for his views and experience in various aspects of AIDS and Addiction interventions. He was invited to and made presentations at :

• International Conference on Harm Reduction organised by UNDP at New Delhi
• Intl. Conference on Health & Human Rights organised by the American Society of Law, Medicines & Ethics at Philadelphia, USA
• The 6th International Congress on AIDS in Asia & the Pacific at Melbourne Australia.
• International conference on HIV/AIDS organized by NACO/ARCON, Mumbai, India

ASHOKA - Innovators for the Public based in the USA have selected Ashok Rau as an Ashoka Fellow for 2002 for Social Entrepreneurship.

UNAIDS has declared the Bangalore AIDS Care facility as a Centre of Excellence and has proposed it for a Best Practice study.

VISITORS
Freedom Foundation Bangalore, continues to attract visitors from India as well as from abroad. Some of the important visitors are :

• Len Good, President of Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) & Bill Gunn of the Canadian High Commission
• Dr. K. Sudhakar, The World Bank
• Dr. Bob Hoekstra, CEO, Philips Software
• Dr. Subha Raghavan, SAATHI, USA
• Elizabeth Pieble, Elizabeth Glaser Foundation, USA
• Micheal Kirby, Supreme Court Judge, Australia
• Edwin Cameron, Supreme Court Judge, South Africa
• Anand N. Suvarna, District Governor, Lions Club
• Dr. David Miller, Country Programme Advisor, UNAIDS
• Dr. Abraham Verghese, Professor of Medicine, Texas Tech, USA
• Elaine Hernandez, GSE Team Leader, USA

FUTURE PLANS
Freedom Foundation has many plans to expand its scope of intervention, and upgrade services. A long standing need is getting our own land and buildings, as all our Centres are located on rented premises. Other plans :

1. PMTCT(Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission) Project with support from the Elizabeth Glaser Foundation, USA at both Bangalore and Hyderabad AIDS Care Centres.
2. A separate Centre for Women Addicts.
3. A separate facility for HIV+ve children and children of HIV+ve parents.
4. Sustained Awareness, Prevention, Sensitization Programmes in both Urban and Rural areas
5. Increased Networking with other organisations and with positive persons.

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