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The Experience of the AIDS Helpline of AIIMS New Delhi

The AIIMS experiene In November 1998, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi established an AIDS Education & Training Cell to create awareness about HIV/AIDS in the General Public. On of the schemes Iaunched to achieve this foal was a free telephone help line called `Shubhchintak' (`well-wisher' in Hindi). This hep line launched on December 1998 has answered the queries of many callers. `Shubhchintak' works from 10:00am to 5:00pm on all working days from Monday to Friday and on Saturdays from 10:00am to 1:00pm. All calls are handled by person with counselling skills. The hame, age, gender, address, phone number or any other identification of the caller is not asked for so that the caller remains totally anonymous and can ask any type of question without fear or anxiety. The significant difference between this help line and others is that it is interactive and caters to the specific personal problems of the callers.On an average `Shubhchintak' recives about 32 calls per day. However, whenever a writ-up appears in the press or an announcement is made on All India Radio, the number of calls go up on that day and a few days thereafter. It is found that 87.9% of the callers are males while 12.1% are females. Though we cannot comment on the age of the callers, they seemed to by young persons (approximately 15-30 years age group). Some of the questions asked by the calllers:

There were also questions regarding the blood test for HIV (such as when and where it could be done, cost of the test, time taken for reporting and reliability of FLISAtest;) some of the callers were curious to know whether `oral sec' causes AIDS. Many callers asked about the risk of getting HIV/AIDS quoting personal experiences and problems. The AIIMS experience points out that given an opportunity the grneral punblic, especially young people, want to know about HIV/AIDS and opportunityes nedd to be created to address these queries in a scientific and cost effective manner. In this situation interactive help line have an Important role to play. (Dr Bir Singh, Additional Professor & Dr V.P. Reddaiah, Professor & Head, Centre for Community Midicine, AIIMS, New Delhi)

(Health Dialogue Issue No. 16. June 1999).

The following activities were organized by the Cell in 2007-08:

1. The telephone helpline on HIV/AIDS and contraception (“Shubhchintak”) continued to be operated with usual popularity, attracting a good number of calls daily.
2. The Internet based helpline “E-shubhchintak” on HIV/AIDS and contraception continued to be operated with usual popularity. 3-5 requisitions for IEC materials apart from queries on HIV/AIDS, sexual problems, STDs, Contraception etc are received daily.
3. The Cell produced and disseminated educational material on HIV/AIDS to general public in 2007-2008 also.
4. About 60 NEW patients were given personal counselling on HIV/ AIDS apart from repeat patients.
5. Organized a health talk cum exhibition on “HIV/AIDS Awareness” in the Community on World AIDS Day (1st December 2007).
6. Organized a one day training program on “HIV/ AIDS & STDs” for Community Health Workers of Distt. Baghpat , UP (24/7/2007).
7. Organized a one day training program on “HIV/ AIDS & STDs” for Officers and Jawans of Border Security Force, New Delhi. 24 October 2007.
8. Organized a one day training program on “HIV/ AIDS & STDs” for Officers and Jawans of Border Security Force, New Delhi. 14 March, 2008.

Free Books available from : AIDS Education & Training Cell

How to get a copy of the books available FREE Of COST ?:

All these books are mainly targetted for the general public ( Youth, Parents, Students, Teachers , NGO Workers and Health Care workers) . These are not text books. These have got limited usefulness for Medical Doctors but are quite useful for Paramedicals and General public.

Bulk copies( Minimum Order : 50 copies) of ALL these books can be had DIRECTLY from the printer at the printing cost of the books. We can help in that process. The payment has to be made DIRECTLY to the printer by a cheque paid in advance. For details about the printer, cost etc., please contact the by E mail: ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or at phone number 91-011-265 88 333 between 10 AM to 5 PM on working Mondays to Fridays.

Please send your request to :
Dr Bir Singh, Professor,
Centre for Community Medicine,
AIIMS, New Delhi-110029.
Or email to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Please write your complete postal address with PIN code in these requests.