Dear Friends,

INVITATON: Community Care and Support for Persons Living With
HIV/AIDS: Challenges for the New Millennium. An International Social
Work Conference, 7th to 9th December, 2004 - Mumbai

On the occasion of the Golden Jubilee year (2004-2005) of the
College of Social Work, Nirmala Niketan, we are organizing an
International Conference on "Community Care and Support for Persons
Living With HIV/AIDS: Challenges for the New Millennium" from
December 7 to 9, 2004.

As you are aware, inspite of resources pouring in to combat the
spread of HIV/AIDS, we have not been able to gain control over the
disease, which is infecting millions of people around the world.
What is alarming is that even if there were no new cases of the HIV
infection from now on, the number of AIDS patients will increase by
over 3 million every year for the next 2 decades. This is simply
because every year 5% of those already currently infected by the
virus will develop AIDS. Consequently, the expected increase
in the number of AIDS patients in the next few years will result,
(especially in developing countries like India) in an epidemic that
will soon outgrow the existing meagre health care facilities
available in our hospitals and other institutions.

It is in the light of this reality that the College of Social Work,
Nirmala Niketan has decided to hold this Conference which will look
at alternate approaches to deal with the problem. The conference
focuses on trying to involve the social capital of our country,
(i.e. the ordinary people in the community) to respond more
creatively in meeting the challenge that lies ahead of us. This
Conference will not remain a talking shop, as it will be
carefully followed up by a community-based project to address the
issue.

The College welcomes participation for the Conference not only as
delegates but also as paper presenters. We would be happy if you
could depute representatives from your organisation for the
conference. Further, we would be grateful if you could identify
interested individuals in the national and international arena who
could present papers on the following themes:

• Models/Approaches for community care & Support.
• Ethical issues & PLWHA.
• World of Work and HIV/AIDS.
• Human Rights/Stigma/Discrimination/Vulnerability

We look forward to your participation at the Conference as this
would be a good opportunity to share our experiences and views &
learn from the best practices of various organizations working at
the International and local level.

Kindly register yourself for the Conference at the earliest.

The details the Conference is also available on the website
www.nirmalaniketancollegeofsocialwork.org/intconference.htm

The Registration form is also available for download.

Sincerely
Dr. Gracy Fernandes
Conference Convenor
E-mail: <intconf@...>