Started in 2001, Jaipur’s helpline gets 3,000 calls a month

Palak Nandi - Jaipur

1051 has a special ring to it here. Run by the Health and Social Development Research Centre, the AIDS helpline has been the lifeline for 2.4 lakh callers since 2001. The helpline begun by the NGO’s secretary, Mridula Chandra, is now sponsored by the state AIDS Control Society.

“Lack of awareness had led to people actually being afraid of having sex. I realised this when I ran a helpline on my landline number in 1997. It was then that I decided that a full time AIDS helpline was essential,” says 42-year-old Chandra.

The helpline was launched in December 2000 on a pilot basis and in three months, it was officially launched. 1051 is a toll-free number and is run through a computer linked to two phone lines, connected to the Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS). The service won the Manthan Award in the E-Health category in 2005.

“There have been times when we received more than 10,000 calls in a month but our average is about 2,500-3,000 calls,” says Chandra. Most callers are between 20 and 35 years and most of them want to know if they might be carrying the virus but fear a test.

“In such cases we always try to make it clear that despite everything, we are no experts and it is best to get a test done and talk after taking a look at the reports.” Chandra does, however, have a technical assistant who attends to special queries.

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