In a bid to increase the reach of the anti-AIDS campaign, 400-odd youngsters will board special trains and fan across the country advocating the use of condoms to avoid deadly the HIV virus, which causes AIDS.
This is part of a six-month-long HIV/AIDS awareness campaign sponsored by the Health and Family Affairs Ministry and the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation beginning January 26.
S Y Quraishi, project director of the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), said the special train will be called Red Ribbon Express and would be designed by a professional advertising agency keeping in mind the anti-AIDS campaign. It will serve as a symbol of the fight against the disease.
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Four Red Ribbon Express trains will start from Jammu in the north, Kanyakumari in the south, Guwahati in the east and Jodhpur in the west and converge on Nagpur, in central India, after covering the entire length and breadth of the country.
The trains will have four coaches. One coach will have a hospital-on-wheels with a testing facility for HIV/AIDS. Another will exhibit literature and photographs related to the disease. The other two coaches will be called 'Preventive Communication' coaches and will carry students and folk artistes. Medical professionals will counsel visitors in the coaches.
The trains will stop at selected stations. The students and artistes will then visit neighbouring villages riding bicycles in groups of ten people. They will perform street plays, distribute pamphlets and sing songs educating people about HIV/AIDS. They will sell flags carrying slogans on HIV/AIDS. The flags will be sold for a token amount of Re 1.
The groups will interact with local students and youth clubs at each halt. And for places where the trains cannot go, special trucks, which will double up as dais and exhibition centers, will be used.
"The objective is that every Indian should know what AIDS is and how to prevent it. Our target group is basically the villagers. We will try to cover the entire country in six months," Quraishi said.
During their visits to villages, the youngsters and artistes will advocate the use of condoms.
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The previous Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government, keeping in mind the 'Indian culture', focussed on abstinence rather than promoting use of condoms to prevent HIV/AIDS. Thus advertisement of condoms in the media was restricted.
Some experts believe the policy of abstinence had adversely affected the HIV/AIDS control program.
Quraishi refused to be drawn into a debate on the issue but said, "Policies keep on changing. Now we have come to the conclusion that we need to promote condoms if we want to curtail the disease. It is based on the experience of other countries."