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India commemorated a sombre World AIDS Day on 1 December 2008. Following the tragic terror attack in Mumbai, many of the planned events supported by UNAIDS had to be rescheduled.
In New Delhi, Union Health Secretary Mr. Naresh Dayal commemorated the World AIDS Day 2008 by formally closing the journey of the path-breaking Red Ribbon Express.
The Red Ribbon Express wound its way back to Delhi on November 27 after cris-crossing the length and breadth of India for a whole year. The Red Ribbon Express project is the largest ever, mass mobilization project in the world against HIV and AIDS. It was conceptualized by the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and implemented by the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), in partnership with the Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan, Indian Railways and the UNICEF.
The train travelled 27,000 kms across India halting at 180 stations in 24 states. In its yearlong journey, the RRE project comprising the train, two buses and street theatre groups reached out to about 6.2 million people. The seven-coach train was equipped with educational material on HIV, interactive touch screens, counseling cabins and a platform for folk performances. UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi launched the train last year on World AIDS Day in 2007.
Speaking at the concluding function, Naresh Dayal, Secretary, M/o Health & Family Welfare exhorted the youth to take a leading role in fighting this infection. He wanted the momentum generated by the project to sustain if the NACP-III goal of reversing and halting the epidemic is to be achieved. Dayal said 68,000 resource persons from different government departments, NGOs, Self Help Groups, educationists and youth groups were trained in the train which shows that the project has succeeded in mainstreaming the issue of HIV/AIDS.
Present at the event, Ms. Karin Hulshof, UNICEF Country Representative said, “We know that HIV positive people can lead positive lives and serve as role models, educate their peers about the prevention and treatment of HIV and AIDS while breaking the silence and stigma that surrounds the infection.”
An exhibition was also inaugurated on the occasion, showcasing the Red Ribbon Express’ journey and the impact it made over the last one year. A short film encapsulating the journey of the Red Ribbon Express across the country was also screened.
A theme song on HIV and AIDS was released on the occasion, which was produced by the John Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs (JHU CCP) in collaboration with NACO. The music video primarily aimed at young people to motivate them to be more informed about HIV /AIDS and engage in responsible behavior. The lyrics written by Gulzar were set to tunes by Shantanu Moitra and sung by Shaan. NACO plans to spread message of the responsible behavior through the theme song in its various events.
In a hugely symbolic gesture, India’s leading TV networks - partnered with UNAIDS to commemorate World AIDS Day. News anchors on their various satellite news channels in English and Hindi sported red ribbon badges while reading the news. In addition, all major news networks carried stories on the national HIV situation and ran discussions on prime time. The print media also focused on the HIV response with all major publications in the English language press carrying detailed global and national feature stories on the World AIDS Day.
A unique poster competition organised by UNAIDS came to its logical end on World AIDS Day as sexual minority communities all over India competed to create the best poster depicting their condition. The winning posters were exhibited by UNAIDS in the foyer of the Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre. The exhibition was put together after a nationwide competition, where a number of schools and colleges participated in partnership with sexual minority groups. The poster exhibition was held alongside UNDP India’s award ceremony for the Global Red Ribbon Awards at the Stein Auditorium.
The poster competition had an in-built advocacy component. Any group entering the competition, which was announced in October 2008, had to first get together and make a poster. They were then asked to take permission from a nearby college principal to talk to students from any senior class. They had to record all this with letters of acceptance from the Principals of the academic institution.
Website
In order to encourage World AIDS Day commemorations, UNAIDS India set up a site (www.worldaidsday.org.in) as a participatory space, where all NGOs and community groups commemorating World AIDS Day could directly provide details of the event they were organising. The site seeks to profile the excellent work carried out by NGOs and aggregates/ displays even at the block level.
This initiative helped to publicize the events and get more people to participate through community mobilisation. It also sought to identify areas of low activity to plan interventions and a bigger mobilization in future. Following World AIDS Day, organisations uploaded reports and photographs of their events and activities. As on December 10, 2008, organizations numbering 133 (NGOs, FBOs, government departments etc.) had uploaded details of their WAD celebration plans. Of these, 17 have already uploaded documentation of the same.
(A Report by UNAIDS India Office)
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