CCEA approves 2,550-cr WB-funded HIV/AIDS control project

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today approved a Rs 2,550 crore National AIDS Control Support Project (NACSP).
The project, proposed by the Department of AIDS Control, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, will be under the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP), which is financed by Government of India and the World Bank in equal proportion.
It will contribute towards intensifying and consolidating prevention services with a focus on highly vulnerable populations, high risk groups and bridge population and strengthening behaviour change communication (BCC) and demand generation, besides institutional strengthening and financial management.
This would help in providing the desired impetus required for further consolidation of gains made in containing the spread of HIV infection in the country.

The primary objective of the project is to increase safe behaviour among high risk groups in pursuance of the national goal of accelerated reversal of the HIV epidemic by 2017.
Its primary focus would be to strengthen and scale up prevention interventions and related BCC strategies for sub- groups of population identified to be most-at-risk by the NACP. These include Female Sex Workers (FSW), men who have sex with men (MSM), Transgender (TG)/Hijra populations and Injecting Drug Users (IDU).