The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has sanctioned a grant of $ 25 million (around Rs 125 crore) to Andhra Pradesh for combating the dreaded AIDS in the state. A formal intimation to this effect was received by the state government last week.

The grant follows a study conducted by the representatives of the Gates Foundation early this year on the prevalence of AIDS in the state. It was, in turn, a sequel to the visit of Bill Gates to Hyderabad and its surrounding places in November last year when he announced a grant of $ 100 million to combat AIDS in the country.

According to official sources, AP will be the first state in the country to get such a massive grant from the Gates Foundation, which was also considering release of similar grants to other high risk states like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Meghalaya and Mizoram.

Though the Gates Foundation had sanctioned $ 25 million, the amount would not be given to the state government or the AP State AIDS Control Society (APSACS) for implementation of the anti-AIDS programme. The entire programme will be implemented by the Gates Foundation directly through its own network. They will take the assistance of local NGOs and, of course, APSACS for technical guidance.

The Gates Foundation has set up its office in New Delhi from where it will be operating to oversee the implementation of the programme. If need be, the Foundation might set up another office in Hyderabad. According to the information available to local sources, about 60 % of the grant will be spent on communications strategy, massive awareness campaign and infrastructure creation. The remaining 40 % will be spent on actual AIDS prevention programme, including research, medicines and testing centres.

It may be recalled that the Gates Foundation had released a $100 million challenge grant to the UK-based International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), which had signed an agreement with the Indian Government to develop the vaccine in the country in 2001.

During the visit of Bill Gates to Hyderabad, the Foundation announced the release of $ 25 million grant to the Partnership Project in Andhra Pradesh, a joint project between the Children's Vaccine Programme at PATH (Programme for Appropriate Technologies in Health) and the Government of Andhra Pradesh, to introduce Hepatitis-B vaccine and strengthen the overall infant immunisation programme in the state.