Accessing Global Fund Award for Rolling Continuation Channel Project

[Guest guest]

Accessing Global Fund Award for Rolling Continuation Channel Project " Scaling up

of Integrated counselling and testing, Prevention of Parent to Child

Transmission of HIV (PPTCT) and referral to care, support and treatment services

for people living with HIV in India "

http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=65358

Thursday, August 26, 2010,

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today approved the utilization of

grant of Rs.609.91 crore (USD 128.4 Million) approved by the Global Fund for

AIDS, tuberculosis and Malaria in rolling Continuation Channel grant of Round 2,

for implementing the project `Scaling up of integrated counselling and testing,

PPTCT and referral to care, support and treatment services for people living

with HIV in India'. The funding will be entirely through the Global Fund to

fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFATM).

The project aims to cover 60% of HIV positive pregnant women in the country with

Prevention of Parent to Child Transmission of HIV (PPTCT) services and to

diagnose and refer for treatment 70% of patients co-infected with HIV/TB. The

project also seeks to strengthen capacity building, quality assurance, and

supply chain systems under the National AIDS Control Programme.

The mother to child route is the 2nd most common mode of transmission of HIV,

after the heterosexual route and accounts for 5.4% of all HIV infections in

India. It is estimated that 0.48% of the antenatal mothers in India are HIV

Infected which translates to nearly sixty five thousand HIV infected pregnant

mothers per year. The Prevention of Parent to Child Transmission of HIV (PPTCT)

programme aims to prevent mother to child transmission of HIV by providing the

HIV infected pregnant women and their new born babies receive a single dose of

prophylactic Nevirapine (NVP).

The project also seeks to consolidate the gains achieved in the past five years

in the delivery of counselling and testing services, PPTCT and HIV-TB

collaboration and further scale up these services so as to diagnose 65% of the

estimated HIV positive population in India and link them with prevention, care

and treatment services over a period of three years. To reach this goal the

number of Integrated Counselling and Testing Centres (ICTCs) will be increased

from the existing 6,300 to 10,700. This scale up will be mainly through the

facility integrated model in government health facilities such as PHCs and in

the private sector health system through public private partnerships.

The benefits of this project will be a major contribution to the overall

National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) - III goal of halting and reversing the

HIV epidemic in India. The project will prevent HIV transmission and mitigate

the impact of HIV by expanding access to counselling HIV and prevention of

parent to child transmission services, strengthening inter-programme linkages,

especially HIV and TB collaboration, and integrating HIV services with general

health system.

The accomplishment of the goals of the project will result in a substantial

mitigation of the socio-economic impact of the HIV epidemic and will indirectly

result in poverty reduction. People Living with HIV/AIDS in India will

specifically benefit as they will be diagnosed early and linked with prevention,

care, support and treatment services.

Background: The ICTC/PPTCT and HIV-TB services are being implemented in 6300

ICTCs in public and private sector institutions across the country. During

2005-09 a total of 260 lakh clients have been counselled and tested across the

country under this programme. During the same period 164.9 lakh pregnant women

have received HIV prevention counselling and been offered HIV testing in whole

country. 45,982 women and their babies out of 89,663 HIV + pregnant women

received a course of ARV prophylaxis of single dose Nevirapine to reduce risk of

PPTCT. Similarly 95,000 HIV infected TB patients have been diagnosed across the

country and linked with treatment.

http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=65358