AIDS Battle Must be Won, Asserts Gandhi

December 2, 2007

" IT IS a battle that can and must be won, " said UPA chairperson and Congress

chief Gandhi as she flagged off the Red Ribbon Express in New Delhi that

will carry AIDS messages over 27,000 km across 24 states within the next one

year.

UNAIDS-backed data released this year said the estimated HIV-infected population

in India was 2.5 million, half of last year's estimate of 5.2 million.

" It continues to be a major public health concern. No single thing has such an

impact in the world. Men and women in the prime of their youth have been lost to

this disease, " she said.

Drugs to treat AIDS are available free under the government programme, but less

than one lakh people are registered, largely because of the stigma attached. If

treated, a person infected with the AIDS virus can lead a healthy life for many

years.

Second-line AIDS drugs for people who develop resistance will be provided free

under the government programme in Mumbai and Chennai. These drugs are expensive

and beyond the reach of thousands of HIV/AIDs victims in India, " said Health

Minister Anbumani Ramadoss. He said the scheme, which is expected to benefit

over 2,000 people in its initial phase, would be extended to the rest of the

country by April 1, 2007.

At the flagging off at New Delhi's Safdarjang Railway Station, Railway Minister

Lalu Prasad Yaday said that the government will make another train available for

AIDS awareness. " The Indian Railway network is the ideal route to rollout a mass

mobilization initiative intended to reach every nook and corner of the nation, "

he said.

A collaboration between NACO, Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, Indian Railways and Nehru

Yuva Kendra Sangathan, the train will become the platform for interactions,

plays, films and poster exhibitions in what is being projected as the biggest

AIDS awareness campaign in the country.

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