The Hindu : Gates gives $100 million to fight AIDS

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Nov 12, 2002

Front Page

Front Page

Gates gives $100 million to fight AIDS

By Our Special Correspondent

Microsoft Corporation CEO, Bill Gates, with Anjali Gopalan of Naz Foundation (to his right) during his visit to a site committed to work in the area of HIV/AIDS in New Delhi on Monday. — Photo: R.V. Moorthy

NEW DELHI NOV. 11. The Microsoft chairman, Bill Gates, today announcing a grant of $100 million from his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for a new initiative to prevent the spread of AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) in the country.

The fund would primarily be used to improve access to proven HIV prevention interventions among the `mobile' population, such as truck drivers and migrant labour and to launch a nationwide campaign to combat the social stigma surrounding the disease.

Announcing the grant, Mr. Gates said the initiative was not parallel to the Indian Government's national AIDS control programme. It would complement it. The Programme Advisory Board would be headed by the Union Health Minister, Shatrughan Sinha, and include two senior Government officials, apart from representatives from the business, medical and NGO community, he said.

Mr. Gates indicated that it would not be a one-time grant. It was only an initial commitment and the Foundation would support the anti-AIDS activities on a long term basis. He announced the appointment of Ashok Alexander, senior partner at the consultancy company, McKinsey, as the Director of the anti-AIDS initiative.

Answering questions, Mr. Gates denied that the Foundation was targeting a narrow group of population. The initiative focussed on the mobile populations because even as they were more vulnerable to the disease and were a key group to reach to prevent the spread of the disease, currently, only a few HIV prevention programmes in India addressed them.

He distanced himself from the controversy over estimates on the number of HIV patients in India that has arisen following a report of the U.S. National Intelligence Council which had warned that 25 million Indians could be infected by HIV/ AIDS by 2010.

Rejecting allegations that the Foundation was one of the sponsors of the study, he said it was not bothered about the numbers. It was only interested in strengthening India's efforts to prevent the spread of the diseases so that India's health, economic and social systems were not affected by HIV epidemic.

Earlier, he called on the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, at his residence and discussed the challenges faced by India on the AIDS front. "The Prime Minister was highly appreciative of the initiative and offered his support for it." He also visited a leading NGO, Naz Foundation India Trust, where he met people living with HIV/ AIDS and learnt about its services. Speaking to reporters, a spokesperson of Mr. Gates said disbursement of funds under the grant would begin in a few months.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page

Stories in this Section

Yasin Malik released

Badal defies order, enters Amritsar city

BJP rebels face the axe

11 elected unopposed

Gujarat violence nasty, says Lyngdoh

Gates gives $100 million to fight AIDS

Abdullah, Azad elected to RS

Musharraf puts off meet

Pak. to set deadline

Sunita cleared