Come December and people in 10 cities and towns in Karnataka will have a unique HIV/AIDS testing and treatment facility in a moving train, free of charge.

The Red Ribbon Express, a National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) initiative, would travel through Hubli, Chikjajur, Birur, Arsikere, Bangarpet, Bangalore Cantonment, Mysore, Hassan, Sakleshpur and Mangalore and provide diagnostic facilities for STDs, STIs, HIV and AIDS.

The train, which is likely to start its year-long journey from Kanyakumari in December, will also travel across other states, stop at 180 stations and cover a distance of over 6,000 km.

The budget of the mega project is approximately to the tune of Rs 12 crore. Rajeev Gandhi Foundation and Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS) under the Ministry of Youth Affairs are also associated.

The seven-coach train would have two coaches for exhibitions on information associated with HIV/AIDS and one coach for auditorium for holding lectures and training workshops.

One separate coach would serve as a mobile lab  for testing and examination for STDs, STIs, HIV/AIDS where diagnostic activities would be carried out by qualified doctors and free medicines would be provided for STDs/STIs. It would also have condom-vending machines.

“People, particularly from villages, who suffer from sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS, but cannot visit local doctors due to the fear of being socially isolated by the community, can freely visit the mobile clinic in the train and also get information about the future line of treatment,” an official told Deccan Herald.

The train would stop at a  station for two days and a night so the diagnostic tests would be done and reports can be given on the spot.

For covering the remote localities, 12 buses would be operated from the stations where the train would stop. The train would also carry artists, performers to be organised by the NYKS who would spread out to the villages and conduct campaigns on HIV/AIDS. About 80 villages would be covered at each halt.

More than 1.5 lakh communicators would be trained for this campaign and training modules are being reviewed by NACO. A MoU has been signed with the Ministry of Railways to provide the coaches. RailTel has offered a satellite-based portable communication system named “Sampark”.