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| Red Ribbon Express finally on track to spread AIDS message in India |
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The specially designed seven-coach train, which will cover a staggering 27,000 km, stopping at 180 stations where volunteers on board will hold awareness programmes and activities in an estimated 50,000 villages, was flagged off at New Delhi railway station earlier this month |
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India's Red Ribbon Express, a special train that the government hopes will take the fight against HIV/AIDS to far-flung corners of the country, finally got the green signal on the occasion of World AIDS Day on December 1. With one of the world's most comprehensive rail networks it is perhaps fitting that India becomes the first country in the world to use a train to spread the AIDS awareness message to over 20 million people. The specially-designed seven-coach train, which will cover a staggering 27,000 km, stopping at 180 stations where volunteers on board will hold awareness programmes and activities in an estimated 50,000 villages, was flagged off at New Delhi railway station by Sonia Gandhi, chairperson of the country's ruling coalition the United Progressive Alliance. The train has three exhibition coaches, one each for counselling and medical services, a special 60-seat mini auditorium-cum-conference room coach, and a pantry car. Two exhibition buses and cycle caravans that will cover the peripheries of the districts, reaching out to millions of people, will also travel with the train. The Red Ribbon Express, which has been several years in the planning, aims at spreading awareness about HIV/AIDS, promoting safe sexual and health practices and fighting the stigma and discrimination associated with the disease. A plethora of events is planned at all the train's halts and along its entire route -- both on-platform and off-site communication activities for maximum outreach and impact. Planned activities include publicity by radio, TV and newspapers and outdoor activities, three days prior to the arrival of the train at a particular location, to generate interest and mobilise local residents. On-platform activities include a welcome ceremony, an exhibition and cultural performances in addition to media interactions to disseminate information on the state of the local epidemic and preventive measures undertaken by the authorities. The Red Ribbon Express will also be the venue for special two-hour training sessions on HIV/AIDS prevention, communications and capacity-building for bureaucrats, teachers, health workers and others. The project is a joint initiative of the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), the Indian health ministry body and Unicef and will be supported by Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS), a wing of the youth affairs ministry. According to NACO, the project is intended as an umbrella exercise to inform and involve people in a genuine mass movement against the disease for which the medical world is yet to find a cure. "With this campaign, we want to sensitise the masses about AIDS and issues related to prevention, stigma and discrimination. This will be achieved by building the capacities of stakeholders, especially common people at the village, block and district levels," says Geeta Bormezai, a senior official of the Department of Information, Education and Communication, at NACO. India's Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, who was present at the flagging off of the Red Ribbon Express, announced that the government would soon make available another train for the same project. Pledging his support to the initiative, Prasad said: "The Indian Railway network served as the ideal route to roll-out a mass mobilisation initiative intended to reach every nook and corner of the nation." In another announcement made by NACO on World AIDS Day, Director Sujata Rao said the government intended to set up special orphanages and foster care homes for children who had lost their parents to the disease. India is home to an estimated 2.5 million HIV-positive people, including 70,000 children. Source: The Asian Age, December 2, 2007
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