In rural West Bengal, MAKE ART/STOP AIDS along with its partner SPARSHA, a Kolkata-based coalition of People Living with HIV & their Friends pioneered an innovative art-based HIV communication and stigma reduction initiative. Christened the Patua-Plus Project, it was a collaboration between Patuas (scroll painters) and community-based health workers from SPARSHA. This project was successfully piloted in the rural settings of West Bengal. Its incarnation, Art and Testimonial: A unique community- based approach to reducing HIV/AIDS stigma in rural West Bengal worked successfully with Baul singers and Tarja artists validating the basic premise of the ‘patua pilot’ that an arts-based HIV communication initiative delivered in conjunction with community-based health workers has positive outcomes for stigma reduction, often a major barrier for treatment.

The model has also been recently tested in an urban slum in New Delhi using the medium of puppetry. The Puppetry Project, a three-way collaboration bringing together the Katkatha puppeteers, WAG-CHELSEA (local NGO) community health workers, and MAKE ART/STOP AIDS, was implemented in November 2010 in Seema Puri, East Delhi.

The Patua-Plus project was made possible in part by support from UNAIDS, UNESCO, Ford Foundation, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, and the World Bank.

For more pictures on this project, please click here

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