The Red Ribbon is a global symbol created in 1991 in New York. It expresses solidarity with people living with HIV/ AIDS & it aims to unite people in the common fight against the disease.

Background
Red Ribbon Club (RRC) is a comprehensive promotional and preventive intervention to enhance voluntary blood donation as well as mainstream HIV & AIDS prevention, care & support and treatment impact, mitigation, stigma reduction, among the youth in educational institutions. It will also prepare and promote youth peer educators within and outside the campuses.

The Need and Context

• Worldwide, 38.6 million people live with HIV.
• More than four million new people get infected each year.
• Half of all new infections are among the age group of 15-24 years.
• Need for primary prevention intervention through mainstreaming.

Rationale behind focusing Youth

Unaddressed growing concerns
Beliefs and values surrounding body, sex and sexuality  
Existing curriculum do not address psycho-social needs
 Inadequate information about HIV/AIDS/RTI/STIs and drugs
Less access to healthcare
Vulnerable age group to indulge in unsafe practices.                                  
Young minds are impressionable, reaching to them at the earliest can effect behavior change

Role of the Red Ribbon Club

• Educate youth with correct, concise and adequate information.
• Enable youth, especially the female students, to identify and understand situations of exploitation and abuse.
• Sensitize the youth regarding care and support needs of People Living with HIV (PLHIV).
• Increase access to health care services.
• Create linkages between youth and GOs, NGOs and CBOs.
• Organize and facilitate Voluntary Blood Donation (VBD) camps and mobilize the youth for VBD.
• Create among the youth a cadre of peer educators

E.Symbol

• Red like Love, as a symbol of passion and tolerance for those affected.
• Red like blood, representing the pain caused by many people who have died of AIDS.
• Red like the anger about the helplessness about which we are facing for a disease for which there is still no cure.
• Red as a sign of warning not to carelessly ignore one of the biggest problems of our time.