The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s India AIDS initiative, Avahan, launched a $25 million (Rs. 117 crores) effort to stem the spread of HIV in Andhra Pradesh. The initiative will provide grants to four partners – the Hindustan Latex Family Planning Promotion Trust, the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, the Transport Corporation of India (TCI) Foundation and Population Services International (PSI)–to provide HIV prevention services to groups at high risk of infection.

The initiative was launched by chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who was joined by Dr Kodela Siva Prasada Rao, minister for Health, Medical and Family Welfare, government of Andhra Pradesh; Meenakshi Datta Ghosh, additional secretary and project director, National AIDS Control Organization (NACO); S Bhale Rao, principal secretary, Health, Medical and Family Welfare, government of Andhra Pradesh; Ashok Alexander, director, Avahan; and representatives of NACO, the Andhra Pradesh State AIDS Prevention Society, the four grantees, and Avahan. The initiative is part of a broader national HIV prevention package totaling $67.5 million (Rs. 309 crores) announced by Avahan in October.

The four grantees will provide HIV awareness and education, behaviour change communication, condom social marketing, and improved diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Activities will cover 20 of the 23 districts of Andhra Pradesh, as well as national highways in the state. Funding for the effort will double annual spending on HIV prevention in Andhra Pradesh from $5 million (Rs. 23 crores) to $10 million (Rs. 46 crores).

“The government and people of Andhra Pradesh are delighted to welcome this important HIV prevention initiative,” said Chandrababu Naidu. “I assure my personal support and that of the government of Andhra Pradesh to these efforts to stem the growth of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the state.”

Among Indian states, Andhra Pradesh has the second-highest number of people infected with HIV, with an adult prevalence rate of 1.6 per cent. “Curbing the spread of HIV/AIDS in Andhra Pradesh is critical to stopping the epidemic in the country as a whole,” said Ashok Alexander, director of Avahan. “We hope that the combined efforts of the Andhra Pradesh government, the Hindustan Latex Family Planning Promotion Trust, the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, the TCI Foundation and Population Services International will dramatically reduce HIV transmission in the state.”