Cola fizz for condom fight

AID for aids

Chennai, July 22: Be my lover Bubbly, of course, but don’t forget the condom.

Cola cans and bottles may soon carry anti-AIDS messages if the National AIDS Control Organisation (Naco) has its way.

The Union health ministry, under which Naco functions, is considering drafting leading soft drinks brands in the battle against the deadly disease to reach a wider audience, especially the young.

With 90 per cent of the country’s more than 5 million human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) patients aged between 15 and 49, Naco thinks the idea makes sense.

This would also help the organisation save on its annual advertising budget, said its special secretary and director-general, S.Y. Quraishi.

“With even schoolchildren indulging in risky behaviour now, the problem has become more acute,” Quraishi said.

Addressing a national conference on “accelerating the business response to HIV/AIDS”, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry here today, Quraishi asked, “Why not let our (Naco’s) messages ride piggyback on, say, PepsiCo’s cans and bottles when the company spent up to Rs 1,830 crore on advertisement last year?”

He had a suggestion for the assembled industry captains: their companies, too, could be doing a “big national service if they could reach condoms ? to promote safe sex ? to the small towns and villages through their product distribution network”.

Naco has already written to some big companies about this, Quraishi said.

The acting US ambassador in India, Robert . Blake (Jr), said President George Bush, during the “historic” visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, had announced an additional $7 million for India’s fight against AIDS.

The money will go towards setting up a corporate anti-AIDS fund, where the private sector is expected to contribute heavily.

The US embassy in New Delhi is working with Naco and private sector representatives to set up this “HIV/AIDS Corporate Fund”, he said.

“Please match this sum of $7 million with your own contributions,” Blake Jr urged the corporate honchos.