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Group to offer HIV counselling via email
Khin Myat
Myanmar Times
June 13 - 19, 2011

THE HIV Hotline Initiative Group (HHIG), which offers free phone counselling to HIV patients, next month plans to expand its services to include email counselling, said Ma Thida, a spokesperson from the organisation.

The group, whose members are HIV-positive, offers counselling to help HIV patients receive proper treatment as well as to provide psychosocial support.

Ma Thida said email is more practical for people who are unable to spend much time on the telephone.

“When people use email, they can ask long, detailed questions about anything they want to know about, and we can send long, detailed responses,” she said. “And if the internet connection is down, phone counselling is still available.”

The group started offering phone counselling to HIV patients in January.

“When people find out they are HIV-positive they feel depressed and shocked. In this situation, they often feel the need to speak to someone who is going through the same experience,” Ma Thida said.

She said that thanks to media coverage, in the first three months that the phone service was available the group received calls from more than 90 people living with HIV, an average of two calls a day. Most were from the Yangon area.

The HIV Hotline Initiative Group can be reached at 09-4929-4225 or 09-4934-0435. The counselling email address will be released later this month.

http://mmtimes.com/2011/news/579/news57912.html