Richard Gere to truckers: Keep off HIV/AIDS

Hollywood actor Richard Gere has urged truckers, the most vulnerable section of society, to keep off the dreaded HIV/AIDS.

"I love Indians so much that I want to help them with HIV/AIDS here. We have met many different people all over India. One of the groups - working hard in the area are the truckers. The truckers' organisation and the truckers themselves, whose responsibility is to work on the issue and be part of the solution and not a part of the problem," he said.

The programme titled "Seena Taan ke" was organised to reach out to hundreds of truckers aimed at highlighting the importance of safe sex.
The rising prevalence of HIV in the country showed that a decade of government efforts had not slowed the virus, which is now estimated to have infected 5.7 million Indians.

According to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, ten percent of the world's HIV-positive population is in India.

According to estimates by the U.N. Population Division, if trends continue, nearly 49.5 million Indians will die of the disease between 2015 and 2050.

Ninety percent of India's HIV-positive population is concentrated in four states - Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

The AIDS awareness show created a flutter of sorts as the media hooked on to Gere embracing and planting a kiss on Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty.