Arunachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Nabam Rebia today said an environment is required where an HIV infected person can disclose his disease for creating awareness.
"We need to create a conducive environment for HIV infected people so that they could easily disclose their disease and further help the health agencies on creating awareness on the dreaded disease among the masses," he said.
Rebia was addressing a programme with the theme "Focus, partner and achieve: An AIDS free generation", organised by the Arunachal Pradesh Legislator's Forum on the occasion of the World AIDS day.
HIV-related stigma and fear of discrimination often prevent people from seeking treatment, he said adding this severely hamper efforts to effectively fight the HIV and AIDS epidemic.
Cases of affected person being ostracised by the neighbours and from schools and community are also a fact, Rebia pointed out.
"All of us need to pledge to make Arunachal Pradesh an AIDS free state," he said.
Arunachal Pradesh State AIDS control Society (APSACS) deputy director Dr A Borang answered questions by students and participants in an interactive session.
The Speaker also released a book by APSACS to mark the occasion.
