Launch of Hotline - Actress Shabana Azmi

The AIDS helpline and tele counseling service was established in 1998. It is an automated system that provides information about HIV/AIDS in two languages - English and Kannada. It was inaugurated by noted actress Shabana Azmi. About 30-50 calls are received per day. In addition, there is facility for anonymous counseling in the automated system and direct telephone counseling on another landline. The manual telephone counseling was started in 2000 and about 8-10 calls are received per day.

The AIDS helpline was supported by KSAPS (Karnataka State AIDS Prevention Society) from 1998 till March 2007. Today, it is independently funded. Since 2006 the service has been extended to the internet for e-mail queries. Currently, we receive at least 2-3 queries per week.

Another development in this project is the partnership with a volunteer group called
i-volunteers. Most of these volunteers are young people from the IT industry who want to serve and give back to the society. They have been trained in HIV/AIDS awareness and reach out to people to spread the awareness through power point presentations, street plays and personal testimonies from HIV positive people.