Scientology Group in West Bengal Promoting Positive Solutions on World AIDS Day

This week's observance of World AIDS Day marks 26 years of a pandemic that continues unchecked and has claimed the lives of an estimated 25 million.  According to a report released at the 16th International AIDS Conference, India is home to 60 per cent of South Asia's HIV patients.  And according to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, (UNAIDS) there are more HIV/AIDS victims in India than anywhere else in the world.

A group of Scientologists in West Bengal, India, who are committed to doing something about this were out in force this week on World AIDS Day. Their message--that each individual can do something effective about the HIV/AIDS pandemic.  With street shows, magic acts and airings of public service announcements they reached thousands of people with news of a common sense moral code contained in a booklet called The Way To Happiness that tackles two of the hardest aspects of the AIDS problem.

In 1981, the mysterious deaths of a handful of Americans was puzzling doctors and scientists.  It was not till a year later that they gave a name to the disease--Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome or AIDS. 1981 was also the year that L. Ron Hubbard, concerned about the decline of morality in the West and the consequent breakdown of the family unit and rise in crime and drug abuse, wrote these somewhat prophetic words: "If you do not insist upon faithfulness from a sexual partner, you lay yourself open to disease.  For a very brief period, it was said that sexual diseases were all under control.  This is not now the case if it ever was." This is a section of one of the precepts of The Way To Happiness, which he authored that year.

Ostracism and prejudice toward those who have AIDS or are HIV positive is another factor officials and health workers are grappling with. As reported by the Times of India this week, in West Bengal, youth are the most at risk to contract the disease and those dealing with the problem state that "the stigma associated with it and the discrimination practiced against the HIV infected is still the biggest battle to fight."  Here again The Way To Happiness has great relevance, as it provides a simple method of combating these attitudes.

For more information on The Way To Happiness or to watch the public service announcements covering its precepts, visit the web site at http://www.twth.org.