US$ 30 million PEPFAR fund to support HIV response in India

January 13, 2008

US provides $30 million aid to India

New Delhi, UNI:

Over the past few decades, the US Department of Health and Human

Services 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.

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

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