The leaders of AINSW called for a board meeting from 25th to 27 April 2022 in Bangalore, India. The three-day meeting brought in most of the board members. It was an atmosphere charged with dynamism and enthusiasm when the sex workers put their heads together to work out strategies to better their lives and that of their community as well as the advancement of the CBO member organizations.
After observing a minute's silence for the departed mentor of the AINSW, Dr. S. Jana, and observing condolence to the departed sex workers during COVID, the Board started its business of discussion, deliberation, and passing of resolutions to advance AINSW objectives.
The first activity was to refresh the resolutions passed in previous meetings as well as those that were passed during the virtual meetings over the past two years.
There are 50 CBO members with 5 CBOs in the North Zone, 12 in the East, 21 in the West, and 12 CBOs in the South. The first two days were devoted to the Board members working on different issues guided by AINSW Advisors, Dr. Sundar Sundarraman, Dr. Sushena Reza Paul, and Ms. Mona Mishra.
The board meeting starts with a minute's silence for the departed mentor of the AINSW, Dr. S. Jana.On the first day of the AINSW board meeting from 2nd March to 5th March 2023, Thursday, there was a detailed discussion on TI (Targeted Intervention). Several issues like the irregular supply of medicines to the Tis, poor quality of condoms supplied by the NACO, the delay in salaries of the peer educators working with the Tis, and the impending retrenchment in the number of peer educators were discussed. There were 17 CSWs from Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, and West Bengal who participated in the event. In this board meeting, AINSW Advisors Ms. Mona Mishra and Dr. Protim Ray instilled enthusiasm among the board members and shared their experiences with the board members.
Dr. Mehul Acharya, Project Director, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation AIDS Control Society, was a guest speaker on the first day of the AINSW board meeting. “I hope that SACS in your different states are working well. Together, we shall be able to achieve the target of 95%,” said Dr. Acharya, referring to the 95% as a target set by the NACO to identify HIV-positive people in order to prevent theinfection from spreading further.
Pavan Bharadwaj, deputy director (prevention) of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation AIDS Control Society, who had accompanied Dr. Acharya, also spoke on occasion. “As a community, you have been outcast from the society which has kept you on the fringe. Every section of society needs a sex worker, but nobody wants to accept her. However, with our efforts, things are changing. The SC has ordered that the sex workers be treated with dignity. Our objective is to make sex work run healthily, for which we need your support.