'Red Ribbon Expresses' will raise Aids awareness among villagers

Special trains called Red Ribbon Expresses are being designed by the Health and Family Affairs Ministry to sensitise the people, particularly villagers, about the spread of Aids which has taken the shape of an epidemic.

Red Ribbon is a symbol of the fight against the disease.

The Red Ribbon trains are part of the six-month-long HIV/Aids awareness campaign sponsored by the Health and Family Affairs Ministry and Rajiv Gandhi Foundation beginning January 26.

The campaign aims to have a cross cutting theme of reducing stigma and discrimination and normalising the issue of HIV/Aids so that the issue becomes more visible and help is available at the earliest.

Emphasis on the use of condoms will be a vital part of the compaign.

More than 400 youngsters will fan out across the country on these trains to advocate the use of condoms to prevent the spread of the HIV/Aids virus and disseminate information about it, said an official from the National Aids Control Organisation (Naco).

He said that four Red Ribbon Expresses will start from Jammu in the north, Kanyakumari in the south, Guwahati in the east and Jodhpur in the west.

They will meet in Nagpur in central India after covering the entire length and breadth of the country in six months.

The Red Ribbon Expresses will serve as a "Know all about Aids" on wheels.

Each will have four coaches one coach will have all the testing facilities for the virus while another will serve as a library where literature and photographs will be exhibited.

The other two coaches which will be called preventive communication coaches will carry students and folk artists.

These people are expected to fan out through out the villages at each stop and educate people about the disease by performing street plays and distributing pamphlets.

Medical professionals who will also form part of the travelling group will counsel the visitors and dispell myths surrounding the disease.

And for places where trains cannot go, special trucks have been designed for this purpose.

According to official figure for 2003, at least 5.1 million people in India are infected with HIV. However several NGOs working in the field say that the number is most likely much higher.