6 Million people, 1.2 million in UP alone watch the Red Ribbon Express so far

[Guest guest]

As reported by mediacom

Saharanpur, October 7: The Red Ribbon Express was inaugurated here this morning by Chief Guest Saharanpur Commissioner Mr. Suresh Chandra in the presence of the entire district administration including the Saharanpur District Magistrate, Mr. Alok Kumar, DIG Anand Swaroop, Chief Development Officer Rajendra Kumar, CMO, Mr. RK Garg, CMS, Mrs. Padmini Joshi, Director Saharanpur division, Mr. PK Jain, Saharanpur Superintendent in Chief, Dr. Sudhir Kumar Singh. Joining the district officials on the dais was a high-level delegation of NACO, Joint Director IEC, Mr. Mayank Agarwal and Mr. Daman Ahuja. Also present were almost the entire senior officials of Uttar Pradesh State Aids Control Society, from Additional Project Director Kumudlata Srivastava, to Joint Directors Dr. (Mrs.) Mridula Sharma, Mr. Ashok Shukla, Mr. VK Mishra, Mr. Tiwari and others. Opening the inaugural function the Chief Medical Officer, Mr. RK Garg, said it was his privilege to introduce the train to the people of Saharanpur and urged the public to make full use of the facilities on board the train. Mr. Garg informed that the curtain raiser to the Red Ribbon Express’ arrival had been the staging of Shifa, a play on stigma & discrimination faced by people and families living with HIV-AIDS at the Janmanch Prekshagrah in Saharanpur on Wednesday evening. He said the play had brought to life the pain of those living with HIV/AIDS and was a big step towards the rehabilitation of HIV/AIDS afflicted into the mainstream of society and a tool to sensitise people to issues related to Positive people.

Mr. Mayank Agarwal, Joint Director IEC, NACO, said the Red Ribbon Express was a nationwide movement and while it concentrated on spreading HIV/AIDS awareness, it also focused on other NRHM goals like immunization, dealing with Malaria, tuberculosis etc. Mr. Agarwal elaborated that Saharanpur was the 136th stop for the Red Ribbon Express, the 17th in Uttar Pradesh. “Over 61 lakh people have been touched through the RRE and its outreach programmes across the country and over 22 per cent of this population—a figure of about 12 lakh is from Uttar Pradesh,†he announced. Mr. Agarwal said the train would be stopping for a maximum four days at the station and this was part of an effort by NACO to ensure the low prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS remains that way. The best way to ensure this was through spreading awareness about the disease to smaller hamlets and rural parts of the state with strong high risk groups like migrants, FSWs MSMs and drug users. “It is necessary to carry forward the message of HIV/AIDS awareness to district level stakeholders,†he stressed, “like Panchayati Raj members, Anganwadi workers and ANMs Self-Help groups and women who were most unjustly and adversely affected by this tragedy. Speaking on the occasion the Additional Project Director UPSACS, Mrs. Kumudlata Srivastava stressed the RRE was not just a train, it was a movement of hope and faith and the time had come when people would have to shun social prejudices and taboos, become part of this mass movement and start spreading awareness about how to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. Mrs. Srivastava said youth in the age group of 15-49 were prime targets of this virus and people must be made aware that free counseling and testing facilities were available through the 11 medical colleges in the state. Not just this free treatment and medicine facilities had also been made available at ART centres and the public must be made aware of them. Thus there was a string need for every visitor to absorb and further disseminate the information they receive from their visit to the train. Addressing the gathering Saharanpur District Magistrate reminded the public that 33 per cent of youth in the 15-39 age group were afflicted with HIV/AIDS and this was an alarming statistic for any nation. He said if 42000 people in Ballia could visit the train in two days and set a national record, it was time for Saharanpur to rally together and set new milestone in the four days of the Red Ribbon Express’ halt in the town. The chief Guest, Saharanpur Commissioner Suresh Chandra, before inaugurating the Red Ribbon Express stated that whilst HIV/AIDS had assumed epidemic proportions in other countries, in India it had not assumed such epidemic proportions. It thus became the duty of each and every citizen to safeguard him/herself and others from HIV/AIDS and stop its spread in India. Saharanpur is the train’s last stop in Uttar Pradesh. The Red Ribbon Express will remain stationed at Platform 1A of the Saharanpur Railway station for the next three days till October 10th when it finally bids adieu to the state. Augustine Veliath,

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