RailEnquiry

Jammu: The Red Ribbon Express to create awareness about fatal HIV infection will arrive in Jammu and Kashmir in January next year and will remain here for a week.Addressing mediapersons here today, the project director of the J&K State AIDS Prevention and Control Society, Dr Rakesh Khajuria, said the Red Ribbon Express will arrive in J&K in January next year.It will remain in the state for about a week at four stations, Bari-Brahmana (January 2), Udhampur (January 4), Samba (January 6) and Kathua (January 8).Describing prevention as the buzzword to stay safe, Dr Khajuria said World AIDS Day is being observed on December 1 and the inaugural function is being held at Jia Pota Ghat in Akhnoor.He further said the issue of HIV/AIDS is a serious one and the message regarding its prevention and control needs to be spread far and wide, for which the role of media is of prime importance.He also said there are around 3,492 HIV-positive patients in J&K and 1,095 are living on Anti-Retroviral Treatment (ART).He also threw light on the different components of National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) being implemented by the J&K State AIDS Control Society.These components include Information, Education, Communication (IEC), Integrated Counselling & Testing Centres (ICTC), Anti- Retroviral Treatment (ART), Blood Safety (BS), Main Streaming (MS), Greater Involvement of People Living with HIV/AIDS (GIPA) and Targeted Intervention (TI).