NEW DELHI: India`s fight against HIV just got an $80 millions push. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) on Thursday increased its funding commitment to Avahan -- its initiative to reduce the spread of HIV in India --to $338 million or Rs 1,652crore.
Prior to the announcement, the foundation had committed $258 million to the programme .
The announcement by Microsoft founder and one of the world's richest men Bill Gates, who is in India, comes at a time when the foundation has been facing allegation that it failed to make a lasting impact in India`s HIV fight.
It has also faced criticism for deciding to "shut down" Avahan and hand over the programme to government national AIDS Control Organization (NACO),which does not want to bear the burden.
However, officials of the foundation told TOI." BMGF does not believe in continuous funding". Avahan's whole purpose was to equip India in its fight against HIV. We were to build the programme, help scale it up, make it sustainable and give it to its natural holders like members of the community or the government. The foundation lunched Avahan in 2003 to help fight HIV in India for a decade.
The foundation said it was inaccurate to suggest that Avahan was about to wind down. Gates told TOI, "In fact,we have already awarded grants that extend into 2014.It's not that the foundation is leaving India. The amount we spend in India on health and development will actually go up but will focus on other things like nutrition, maternal and child health and vaccines."
Prior to the announcement, the foundation had committed $258 million to the programme .
The announcement by Microsoft founder and one of the world's richest men Bill Gates, who is in India, comes at a time when the foundation has been facing allegation that it failed to make a lasting impact in India`s HIV fight.
It has also faced criticism for deciding to "shut down" Avahan and hand over the programme to government national AIDS Control Organization (NACO),which does not want to bear the burden.
However, officials of the foundation told TOI." BMGF does not believe in continuous funding". Avahan's whole purpose was to equip India in its fight against HIV. We were to build the programme, help scale it up, make it sustainable and give it to its natural holders like members of the community or the government. The foundation lunched Avahan in 2003 to help fight HIV in India for a decade.
The foundation said it was inaccurate to suggest that Avahan was about to wind down. Gates told TOI, "In fact,we have already awarded grants that extend into 2014.It's not that the foundation is leaving India. The amount we spend in India on health and development will actually go up but will focus on other things like nutrition, maternal and child health and vaccines."
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