US provides $30 mn aid to India for HIV/AIDS control

New Delhi, Jan 11: The United States has committed 30 million dollars as President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to support India's response for HIV/AIDS.

Of this, seven million dollars would come through the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). According to an HHS-India fact sheet, the Department committed nearly 30 million dollars to US-India collaborations through many of its agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) during the last year.

Over the past few decades, the HHS office in India has administered more than 200 million dollars of cooperative health projects in high-priority areas such as HIV/AIDS, polio, tuberculosis, malaria, leprosy, and childhood and oral cancers.

By funding small grants initially, HHS has helped lay the groundwork for long-term collaborations.

''HHS is working together with India to increase scientific knowledge, develop and evaluate vaccines and drugs, and control, prevent, and eliminate diseases,'' it said.

Between 1998 and 2003, HHS/National Institutes of Health (NIH) nearly quadrupled the number of research projects to which it provided funding in India from 17 to 67. In 2006, that number nearly tripled to 180 projects valued at 17 million dollars.

HHS is collaborating with India on HIV/AIDS, polio elimination, tobacco control, tuberculosis, establishment of schools of public health, and preparedness for avian influenza and capacity-building, the Department said.

UNI