Slowdown hits India's AIDS control programme

The global meltdown has started to hurt India’s AIDS control programme. India may have to cough up more internal resources to finance the next phase of its AIDS control programme, as international donor agencies, which footed 75 per cent of the Rs 11,585-crore expenditure in the third phase, are unwilling to commit funds.

Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said the agencies were hesitant to make any commitments in the wake of the global economic slowdown. “Some of them hinted that they may not be able to support at all, while others were not willing to commit funds for the fourth phase of the National AIDS Control Programme that begins from April 1, 2012,” Azad told Business Standard.

He had met representatives of the external donors like World Bank, World Health Organisation, United Nations Children’s Fund, Clinton Foundation, UNAIDS, etc, during the recently concluded UN General Assembly Session on HIV/AIDS at New York.

Speaking on the sidelines of a national convention of zila parishad chairpersons and mayors on HIV/AIDS in New Delhi today, Azad said he had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, seeking assurance of financial aid if external fund flow declined. “The requirement will not be known now. It depends on the commitments that will come from the external funding agencies. What we need now is to maintain the speed of our AIDS control measures. We are cruising along now, and I want this to continue, irrespective of the external fund flow,” Azad said.

Of the Rs 11,585-crore allocation for the five years ending on March 31, 2012, Rs 2,861 crore came through budgetary support. The balance came from international donor agencies.

According to Azad, there has been a decline in prevalence of infection to 0.31 percent, resulting in a 50 per cent reduction in newer infections in the last decade (from 270,000 in 2000 to 120,000 in 2009) due to concerted efforts put in by the National AIDS Control Programme since 1992.