Truckers get lessons on HIV/AIDS

Chandigarh, Dec 1 (IANS) More than 300 truck drivers, cleaners, mechanics and transporters Monday participated in HIV/AIDS awareness programmes organised to mark World AIDS Day in the city.

The events were organised by Yuvsatta, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), and the State AIDS Control Society of Chandigarh.

Yuvsatta volunteers distributed condoms, brochures, and catalogues on HIV/AIDS among participants and spectators.

'This was our endeavour to sensitise certain section of society about the vulnerability of the disease,' Parmod Sharma of Yuvsatta told IANS.

India is home to 2.5 million HIV-positive patients, including 70,000 children below the age of 14.

There are an estimated 33 million people living with HIV worldwide, while 2.7 million people were newly infected in 2007. About two million people died of AIDS last year, activists said.