HIV/AIDS Media (India)

The Red Ribbon Express

On World AIDS Day 2007, the Red Ribbon Express, a special train, was flagged off from New Delhi's Safdarjang Railway Station by Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, president of the ruling Congress Party. The train's mandate included halting at 180 stations and reaching more than 50,000 villages in India with critical information on HIV prevention. During each station stop, six performing teams, each with ten artists, disembarked from the train on a fleet of bicycles to visit dozens of villages. They used folk media and street theater to spread messages about stopping HIV infection and fighting AIDS stigma and discrimination. Another group of young campaigners traveling by buses covered an even larger area than the cyclist performers. Many of these on-the-ground events were covered by local, regional, and national media.

Further, the Red Ribbon Express was a traveling education and exhibition vehicle, equipped with interactive touch screens. It had an auditorium to host sessions for anganwadi (child care center) workers, self-help groups, and young people's and women's nongovernmental organizations. A separate coach provided six cabins for one-on-one counseling, testing, and medical services. Considered groundbreaking, the Red Ribbon Express was hailed as one of the largest mass mobilization efforts on HIV/AIDS undertaken anywhere in the world.

Media Efforts

Between 2001 and 2007, a unique partnership between the BBC World Service Trust, the Government of India's National AIDS Control Organization, and Doordarshan (the country's public broadcaster) led to the broadcast of an award-winning detective television series, Jasoos Vijay (Detective Vijay). This reached more than 70 million people with engaging messages about HIV prevention and reducing AIDS-related stigma and prejudice.

Early in the series, for example, Detective Vijay is commissioned by an urban family to check out the background of a young rural woman whom they wish their son to marry. When Vijay arrives in her village, he discovers the young woman is missing and her family is trying to cover up her disappearance. When her body is found in the village well, Vijay investigates how she died. Through a maze of intrigue and suspense, Vijay discovers that the young woman was a childhood friend of a village outcast, who was ostracized by the community because he was HIV-positive. She was killed because of her association with an HIV-positive person.

Through 153 episodes of Jasoos Vijay, viewers were treated to multiple cliffhangers and multiple denouements. Various theory-based strategies were employed to enhance the engaging narrative: the use of a celebrity epilogue-giver; the posing of multiple dilemmas (such as “How did she die”?) to stimulate audience reflection and elaboration; an emphasis on mystery to build suspense and audience involvement; and the raising of key social dilemmas surrounding HIV/AIDS, designed to deconstruct prevailing social values, beliefs, and norms about HIV/AIDS.

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