The union health ministry will re-launch 'Red Ribbon Express' on the National Youth day on 12 January, 2012 to particularly focus on AIDS prevention, treatment and counseling efforts amongst the youth.

The Red Ribbon Express, which the government had launched in 2007 and discontinued for the next two years, is a train carrying HIV prevention messages and a mass-mobilization campaign on HIV/AIDS. In its last runs last year, the Red Ribbon Express had reached 182 stations covering over 80 lakh people across the country. The major objective of the programme is to spread awareness on HIV/AIDS among the people, especially the vulnerable group of young people and fighting stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV.

The Red Ribbon Express initiative will be a powerful medium for the dissemination of HIV related information to the public for behavioural change which will be an important focus area of the programme. It is proposed to mainstream and include partners from various ministries as well as civil society to facilitate a coordinated multi-sectoral response.

According to union health ministry estimates, there are around 23 lakh people living with HIV in India. The National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) has undertaken specific actions to control and reverse the epidemic and its efforts have yielded significant results as is evident in the declining HIV prevalence rates in the country. It was also evident from the fact that at the high level meeting in New York in June 2011, India was acclaimed as a country with notable success in the AIDS programme. The impact of the NACO's NACP-III has brought about a decline in the prevalence to 0.31% with 50% reduction in newer infections in the last decade.

As of March 2011, nearly 4.5 lakh People Living with HIV in India, including 26,238 children, are receiving free Anti Retroviral Treatment (ART) at around 1,000 ART centres and Link ART centres in the country. The Universal Access to second line ART in a phased manner and launch of Infant and child diagnosis are some of the newer initiatives launched to combat AIDS.

The Red Ribbon Express is once again being put into action by NACO to consolidate these early gains. This multi-sectoral initiative on wheels, it is envisaged, will bring together peoples’ representatives, programme functionaries, opinion leaders, media, civil society and citizens to offer a coordinated response to the HIV epidemic in India.