Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Reuters NewMedia - November 18, 2005
Kamil Zaheer

"It depends on my mood whether I put on a condom or not," says Manoj, as a monkey scampers around the tin-roofed building, some 60 km (35 miles) from New Delhi.

"Sometimes I am not in the mood," says the 24-year-old high school dropout.

For officials and HIV/AIDS campaigners in India -- home to the largest number of infections after South Africa -- Manoj's attitude 19 years after the nation of one billion reported its first HIV case is a worrying challenge.

Today, India's HIV/AIDS population is 5.13 million.

India is using a host of methods to get its message across, from tapping into the country's obsession with cricket to using advertising slogans on soft drink bottles and spreading the word on safe sex by train.

In July, the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) in a bold pilot campaign asked newspaper readers across the cricket-mad nation to save their "wickets" and not lose their "stumps" to AIDS.

To drive home the point, the advertisement showed three cricket wickets covered by condoms, a bold departure from more conservative TV ads with cricketers like Indian captain Rahul Dravid wearing a helmet and asking people to protect themselves.

This was followed by another newspaper advertisement warning readers in a country where most people do not discuss sex openly to remain "Not out!" to AIDS by praticising safe sex.

"Using cricket helps us talk about condoms and safe sex without the gatekeepers (of morality) coming in the way as the game cuts across all social groups and both men and women," said K. Anathakrishnan Ravi, general manager of advertising agency R.K. Swamy BBDO which created the campaign for NACO.

NOT JUST CRICKET

NACO says it is working on different strategies to trumpet the message in the world's second most populous nation where condom usage is still low and most HIV-infected people are in rural areas.

In the southern Andhra Pradesh state, which has an HIV infection rate of 2.25 percent among adults compared with the national average of 0.92 percent, the local government is distributing condoms at liquor stores and milk stands.

NACO's outgoing chief S.Y. Quraishi said his agency was talking to Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc., which have a national distribution network reaching remote areas, to get the softdrink giants to put safe sex messages on bottles.

He says NACO is looking for generic messages on bottles such as "For an AIDS-free India" rather than bold statements about condom use which may make some soft drink consumers in rural areas uncomfortable.

More than 40 percent of India's population with HIV/AIDS is between 15 and 40 years old and many consume soft drinks.

"Fighting HIV is a national cause. We need to get the message across and want to piggyback on Coke and Pepsi," Quraishi said, adding NACO also wants to send packs of condoms with crates of soft drinks to shops in the countryside through delivery trucks.

NACO, which has been criticised by voluntary groups for a sluggish response to the HIV epidemic, said it was ready to push the envelope of what is socially acceptable.

It is helping staid state broadcaster Doordarshan, which reaches about 400 million viewers, to develop a TV serial featuring an HIV-infected character, a first for Indian TV.

"Some people may be shy but you have to get them to talk about sex and AIDS," Quraishi said.

RED RIBBON EXPRESS

NACO also plans to hire a train from Indian railways, one of the world's biggest networks that spans the entire country, to spread the anti-AIDS message.

The "Red Ribbon Express" will carry actors who will perform AIDS awareness plays; doctors to carry out HIV tests; and volunteers who will cycle to villages every time the train stops.

In the northern city of Chandigarh last month, thousands of people including local politicians rang bells, honked horns and clanged food utensils to create an "alarm" about AIDS.

But voluntary groups say much more needs to be done.

"You have to reach the village before the village lad leaves to look for a job," said Alok Mukhopadhyay, the head of the Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI).

"Otherwise, he lands up in the city where he is exposed to prostitutes but without knowledge of how to protect himself."

He says authorities should target rural fairs and religious gatherings that are attended by millions of people.

NACO thinks it is a good idea and, along with voluntary groups, wants to screen short films, stage street plays about AIDS and organise discussions at gatherings like rural fairs.

VHAI says it has used puppeteers and magicians to entertain people at such gatherings as well as educate them about AIDS.

But many like Manoj still have not got the message.

"AIDS? Yes, I have heard about it -- it has something do with sex," he said, still grinning. "I don't think about it."

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