Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 63 617 177 at noon on Wednesday July 27 2005
India’s National Aids Control Organisation (Naco) is asking soft-drink manufacturers to include HIV/Aids awareness messages in their advertisements in an attempt to reach 15- to 49-year-olds.
‘It is well known that 90% of the 5,1-million HIV/Aids cases in the country are in the most productive age group of 15 to 49 years,” said Naco director SY Quraishi, adding, ‘We can use companies like PepsiCo to carry Aids messages on soft-drink bottles and cans to target this group.”
Quraishi said the response from soft-drink manufacturers so far has been extremely encouraging.
Naco, meanwhile, has requested that companies with large distribution networks use their contacts to market condoms.
In September the Indian government — as part of its Red Ribbon Express campaign — plans to place HIV/Aids awareness messages on trains that are scheduled to travel across 20 states over six months.
The trains, which will make 360 stops, will house about 16 000 street performers, who will work on a rotation basis, and each will feature an exhibition room, an HIV/Aids counselling and testing centre as well as a training centre.
At each stop, a few of the performers will go into nearby villages and spend two days staging plays and skits about HIV/Aids.
Source: Kaiser Network