NACO, global fund sign agreement to scale up HIV/AIDS related services in India

NEW DELHI - The Government of India and the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) today signed a three year grant agreement for 128.4 million dollars to support the continuation of flagship programmes of the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO).

The agreement was signed during a meeting between K. Chandramouli, Secretary and Director General, NACO and Dr. Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director, GFATM.

The programmes covered under the grant agreement include Integrated Counseling and Testing services, Prevention of Parent to Child Transmission (PPTCT) services aimed at preventing new born infants from contracting HIV from their mothers and HIV-TB collaborative services.

The overall goal of the grant will be to reach and diagnose an estimated 65 percent of the HIV infected people in India and link them to care, support and treatment services.

In order to achieve this, NACO through this grant aims to counsel and test 1.82 crore clients annually in as many as 10,700 Integrated Counseling and Testing Centers (ICTCs) by the end of the project (2012).

A special focus will be given to antenatal women, high risk groups such as female sex workers, men who have sex with men, intravenous drug users as well as people with sexually transmitted infections and tuberculosis.

NACO also intends to work in collaboration with the national rural health mission and increase the number of facility integrated ICTCs in Primary Health Centers from 1000 currently to 4755. (ANI)