India no longer dependent on foreign aid or funding for tackling AIDS: NACO

New Delhi, Feb 21 (IANS) India is no longer dependent on foreign aid or funding for tackling the burden of AIDS in India, said Dr Uday Bhanu Das, Deputy Director General of the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, on Friday.

Speaking at the 16th National Conference of AIDS Society of India, being held in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad, Das noted that a major chunk of funding for various AIDS programmes in the country is made by the government.

“Presently, the National AIDS and STIs Control Programme of the Government of India gets 94 per cent of its funding from the government only with just 6 per cent coming from the Global Fund — but it is important to recognise that the Government of India also financially contributes to the Global Fund as well as the WHO. We are no longer dependent on foreign aid or funding,” Das said.

The Phase-V of the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) aims to reduce annual new HIV infections and AIDS-related mortalities by 80 per cent by 2025-26 from the baseline value of 2010 in the country.

Another key objective is achieving the 95-95-95 targets by 2025. It means that 95 per cent of all people living with HIV should know their status, 95 per cent of those who know their status should receive lifesaving antiretroviral therapy, and 95 per cent of those on the treatment should be virally suppressed.

“In 2024-2025, 84 per cent of estimated people living with HIV in India were aware of their status, 86 per cent of them were on lifesaving antiretroviral therapy, and 94 per cent of them were virally suppressed,” Das said.

Globally, 86 per cent of people living with HIV knew their status, 89 per cent were on antiretroviral therapy, and 93 per cent of those on antiretroviral therapy were virally suppressed.

“If we are to end AIDS, we have to ensure that all people with HIV know their status, 100 per cent of them are on lifesaving antiretroviral therapy, and 100 per cent of them are virally suppressed. This will ensure all people with HIV remain healthy as well as any further spread of infection also stops,” said Dr Ishwar Gilada, President Emeritus of the AIDS Society of India (ASI).

According to NACO, when compared to 2010, HIV rates have almost halved in India by 2023 (44.23 per cent decline, which is more than the global decline in the same period of 39 per cent) and AIDS-related deaths have declined by 79.26 per cent in India by 2023 (which is more than the global decline in the same period 51 per cent).

–IANS

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