India’s NACO Asks Soft Drink Makers To Promote HIV/AIDS Awareness in Advertisements

India's National AIDS Control Organization is asking soft drink manufacturers to include HIV/AIDS awareness messages in their advertisements in an attempt to reach 15- to 49-year-olds, NACO Director S.Y. Quraishi said on Friday, the Hindu reports (Hindu, 7/23). "It's well known that 90% of the 5.1 million HIV/AIDS cases in the country are in the most productive age group of 15 to 49 years," Quraishi said, adding, "We can use companies like PepsiCo to carry AIDS messages on soft drink bottles and cans to target this group" (Japan Today, 7/24). Quraishi said the response from soft drink manufacturers so far has been encouraging. NACO also has requested that companies with large distribution networks use their contacts to market condoms. In addition, the government in September as part of its Red Ribbon Express campaign plans to place HIV/AIDS awareness messages on trains that are scheduled to travel across 20 states over six months. The trains, which will make 360 stops, will house a total of about 16,000 rotating street performers and each will feature an exhibition room, an HIV/AIDS counseling and testing center and a training center. At each stop, the performers will go into nearby villages for two days to stage plays and skits about HIV/AIDS (Hindu, 7/23).