PANAJI: Health Minister Vishwajit Rane on Wednesday launched the Intensified Integrated IEC Campaign 3.0 on HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control at Usgao-Ganjem, with an IEC van also flagged off to take the awareness drive across the state.
The two-month campaign, being implemented by the Goa State AIDS Control Society (GoaSACS) in association with the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), will focus primarily on youth and aims to improve awareness about HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
Health Secretary Yetindra Maralkar and GoaSACS Project Director Dr Jasmine B Pinto were present at the launch.
As part of the 2026 campaign, Goa will conduct 50 village-level meetings, 100 folk performances and five flash mobs. Door-to-door outreach will cover 10,000 households, while two special camps and programmes in 80 schools and colleges are planned. Theme-based daily posts will support the campaign's online outreach.
The initiative will cover HIV transmission routes, prevention measures and provisions of the HIV/AIDS (Prevention & Control) Act, 2017, with the aim of addressing stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV.
It will also promote HIV and Syphilis screening among pregnant women and antenatal care attendees, along with HIV testing, condom use and STI services. The National AIDS Toll-Free Helpline 1097 and the online HIV Risk Assessment Tool, accessible through a QR code integrated with the SOCH application, will also be promoted.
In a social media post, Rane said the campaign marked Goa's efforts to strengthen HIV/AIDS prevention and control on International Youth Day.
“Silence has never protected anyone. Awareness does. Dignity does. Action does,” he said.
Rane said the campaign would take information on HIV transmission and prevention to villages, schools and young people, while reinforcing safeguards against stigma under the HIV/AIDS (Prevention & Control) Act.
He said the initiative would also bring HIV and Syphilis screening closer to expecting mothers and improve access to testing, care and support services.
“Our vision is simple: that no one is uninformed, no one is unheard, no one is left behind,” Rane said.
The launch event featured lectures, short films and a folk troupe performance aimed at educating youth about HIV/AIDS and STIs. Winners of street play and poster competitions for higher secondary students were also felicitated.
The 2026 campaign builds on previous rounds of the Intensified IEC initiative. In Goa, the 2025 campaign covered 182 villages through 65 village-level meetings, 110 folk performances and 34 flash mobs. It also reached 1,560 households through door-to-door outreach, held 13 special camps and covered 97 schools and colleges.
The campaign will also seek to strengthen coordination among government departments at the state, district, block and village levels to improve HIV/AIDS awareness and access to services.
