hivaidsonline.in is India’s first independent online resource base on HIV/AIDS. The website is managed by the Centre for Communication and Development Studies (CCDS), a social change resource centre that uses innovative communication strategies to strengthen civil society and citizens’ action for social justice, human rights, sustainable development and accountable governance. CCDS also manages www.infochangeindia.org, India’s leading cross-sectoral online resource base on development/rights issues, now in its eighth year online.
hivaidsonline.in caters to the informational needs of three primary reader-segments – readers looking to inform and update themselves on HIV in India, prevention, transmission and treatment; positive people looking for information and resources related to their treatment, rights and entitlements; and people working within the HIV/AIDS sector looking for updates and diverse perspectives on the success or otherwise of public policy and implementation of initiatives related to prevention, treatment and care, and safeguarding the rights of positive-people.
This website provides –
* information on the history, origins, transmission, prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS
* features and human interest stories on vulnerable groups and people living with HIV/AIDS
* updates on policy and interventions related to HIV/AIDS in India
* backgrounders, analysis, independent comment and diverse perspectives from leading public health specialists in India, medical professionals who have spent two decades working with HIV/AIDS, activists and human rights lawyers working with affected communities
* articles on the human rights of positive people
* reviews of HIV/AIDS in the media and popular culture
* useful resources, including links to treatment, testing and counselling centres, FAQs on HIV/AIDS and audio recordings of the presentations made by public health specialists and AIDS activists at a recent CCDS-Lawyers Collective seminar.
The content on this website is sourced from a wide, credible and experienced network of public health specialists, policymakers, grassroots activists, medical professionals, journalists, researchers and development specialists, and from dozens of different journals, websites and news agencies in India and across the world.
Copyright and reprint rights
The Centre for Communication and Development Studies reserves copyright for the content on this site. For material published on this site, but made available through various organisations and sourced to those different organisations, the copyright and the conditions of use of the content from this site stands reserved with them.
Content on this website may be cited, reprinted, translated and linked for the purposes of public education only. Please contact us for written permission to reproduce/reprint. Due credit must be given to the author and hivaidsonline.in.
The Team
CCDS has been promoted by a team of experienced, highly-regarded and competent media professionals, communication experts, development researchers and analysts. All mid-career professionals, we were brought together by the shared desire to use our knowledge and skills in ways that would help bring about change in the lives of the most deprived sections of society. And in doing so, bring about change in our own lives. Each member of the team has substantial years of experience in either activism or communications and in most cases, both these fields. CCDS thus has an extensive network of journalist-activists/activist-journalists. This network is perfectly placed to synergise perspective, knowledge, skill and experience, so that communication and information are used to effect institutional and social change.
Consulting Editor
Sandhya Srinivasan
Sandhya Srinivasan is an independent journalist specialising in public health and development issues. She has a master's in public health and is Executive Editor of the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics. She was a Panos Reproductive Health Media Fellow in 1998 and an Ashoka Fellow. She is also Consulting Editor, Public Health, for www.infochangeindia.org.
Copy editor
Sherna Gandhy is a senior journalist based in Pune. In a career spanning over 25 years in the mainstream media, she has been Editor of The Times of India, Pune, Senior Editor of the Illustrated Weekly of India, and Deputy Editor of the Sunday Observer.
Webmaster
Vijay Narvekar holds diplomas in Electronic Engineering and Internet and Multimedia. He specialises in developing, designing and managing websites for civil society organisations and corporate houses.
Associates
John Samuel
John Samuel has been a human rights activist, policy researcher, writer, institution-builder and development manager for more than 20 years. He has been working with social movements, human rights and advocacy organisations and development organisations at the grassroots, national and international levels. He has initiated and promoted national and international campaigns for human rights, accountable governance and social justice, including the Rights to Information in India and the Global Call to Action Against Poverty. He was formerly the Executive Director of the National Centre for Adovocacy Studies. He has helped to establish more than ten organisations and networks at the national and international level, including the Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability, Social Watch India, Asia Media Forum and CCDS. He is currently the International Director of Actionaid, based in Bangkok, and co-editor of www.infochangeindia.org.
Hutokshi Doctor
A journalist who has worked in the Indian media for over 25 years, she has held senior editorial positions at several leading mainstream publications including The Times of India, The Independent and The Illustrated Weekly of India. For the last ten years she has been working exclusively with communications for social change. She was editor of Humanscape, a journal on social change and social action which she co-founded. She is the founder-director of the Centre for Communication and Development Studies, which manages hivaidsonline.in, and has edited www.infochangeindia.org since inception. She has also managed several communications projects for development organisations, campaigns and programmes.