Reliance and UNAIDS launching an innovative partnership for AIDS

[Guest guest]

Reliance and UNAIDS launching an innovative partnership for AIDS

May 23, 2008, Mumbai: Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), India's

largest private sector company, and UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations

Programme on HIV/AIDS, are launching an innovative partnership to

halt and reverse the HIV epidemic in India. The partnership builds on

the healthcare agenda set by Mr. Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing

Director, RIL, and Mr. Michel Sidibe, UN Assistant Secretary General

and UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director, Programmes.

This collaboration aims to establish a sustainable business model for

social change to ensure equal access to HIV services for the poor

across India. This is in line with the objectives of the National

AIDS Control Programme III. The partnership will support India in

its efforts to scale up towards Universal Access to HIV prevention,

treatment, care and support and achieving the UN's Millennium

Development Goals.

Michel Sidibe stresses, " I am convinced that such a business model

will enable countries to quicken the pace of action in scaling up

programmes and meet the needs of hard-to reach populations " . The

UNAIDS Secretariat will facilitate collaboration between Reliance and

UNAIDS co-sponsors while RIL will leverage its vast infrastructure to

expand and strengthen its healthcare services across India. The

specific focus will be on expansion of healthcare outreach to rural

populations especially serving people living with HIV. It will

address existing gaps in the public health system and build the

capacities of public and private healthcare providers.

Reliance Industries has been at the forefront of the corporate

response to HIV, and has demonstrated its commitment to social

development by spearheading a campaign to counter stigma and

discrimination against the HIV infected. Ms. Nita Ambani, President,

Dhirubhai Ambani Foundation, strongly engaged in the social

responsibility programmes of Reliance Industries Limited, reiterates,

that a major focus of Reliance's sustainability initiatives is to

make quality healthcare accessible to more people. For example, the

community care centre at Hazira under the leadership of Executive

Director Mr. H.S. Kohli provides free treatment to hundreds of people

living with HIV making it one of the largest Anti-Retroviral

Treatment centers in the country. Dr. AV Mewara, Reliance Chief

Medical Officer at Hazira, recently conducted a field visit for a

UNAIDS team lead by its Country Coordinator in India Dr. Denis Broun

and Anand Tiwari, Team Leader on Advocacy, Communication and

Leadership.

On visiting the facilities and interacting with the patients, Dr.

Denis Broun, said " It warms my heart to see the great work that is

being done in collaboration with Reliance Industries Limited. This is

a business model that sets an example for other HIV Care Centres in

India. " This first of its kind partnership between RIL & UNAIDS will

provide a high-visibility platform to empower others to act similarly

and work towards reversing the trends of the epidemic. RIL aims at

working tirelessly towards strategic tie-ups for capacity building

and to develop a state-of-the-art information system tool for all

public and private stakeholders in the fight against HIV to set a

global benchmark of excellence. Reliance and UNAIDS will ensure that

other countries equally benefit from the experience gained from this

partnership in future.

RIL health care initiatives reach out to more than a 100,000 people

in the areas of Jamnagar, Hazira and Dahej in Gujarat. In recognition

of its outstanding commitment and support of the national AIDS

response RIL received the UNAIDS Civil Society Awards 2006. It also

received the TERI Corporate Award for Business Response in

recognition of its corporate leadership for HIV and AIDS intervention

in Indian industry in 2007.

Reliance Industries Limited

Reliance Industries Limited is India's largest private sector company

on all major financial parameters with a turnover of Rs. 1,39,269

crore (US$ 34.71 billion), cash profit of Rs. 25,205 crore (US$ 6.3

billion), net profit (excluding exceptional income) of Rs. 15,261

crore (US$ 3.8 billion) and net worth of Rs. 81,449 crore (US$ 20.3

billion) as of March 31, 2008.

Reliance Industries Limited is the first and only private sector

company from India to feature in the Fortune Global 500 list

of `World's Largest Corporations' and ranks amongst the world's Top

200 companies in terms of profits. Reliance is not only amongst the

25 fastest climbers ranked by Fortune, but also features in the

Forbes Global list of the world's 400 best big companies and in the

Financial Times Global 500 list of the world's largest companies.

Moreover, Reliance ranks amongst the `Worlds 25 Most Innovative

Companies' as per a list compiled by the US financial publication-

Business Week in collaboration with the Boston Consulting Group.

UNAIDS

UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, is an

innovative joint venture of the United Nations family, bringing

together the efforts and resources of ten UN system organizations in

the AIDS response to help the world prevent new HIV infections, care

for people living with HIV, and mitigate the impact of the epidemic.

With its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the UNAIDS Secretariat

works on the ground in more than 80 countries worldwide. Coherent

action on AIDS by the UN system is coordinated in countries through

the UN theme groups, and the joint programmes on AIDS. Cosponsors

include UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP,UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and

the World Bank.UNAIDS helps mount and support an expanded response to

AIDS – one that engages the efforts of many sectors and partners from

government and civil society.

Key Contacts:

Sharmili Vashani (Mumbai)

022 – 2278 5587

+91 99875 11205

sharmili.vashani@...

Nalin Mehta

011-41354545

+91-9711291990

Mehtan@...

Sudeep Purkayastha (Delhi)

011-2346 3634

+91-98994 41119

sudeep.purkayastha@...

http://www.unaids.org.in/new/displaymore.asp?

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