Gates Foundation To Give $25 Million to Indian State of Karnataka To Fight HIV/AIDS
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has announced plans to give $25 million for HIV/AIDS prevention to the southern Indian state of Karnataka as part of a previously announced $200 million grant to fight HIV/AIDS in India, the AP/Dallas Morning News reports (AP/Dallas Morning News, 12/5). The $200 million gift represented a doubling of the Gates Foundation's efforts to fight HIV/AIDS in India, and Bill Gates said the funds were intended in part to help efforts to reduce the social stigma surrounding the disease in the country (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 11/14). The $25 million grant to the state of Karnataka will go toward counseling and testing, condom distribution and improved diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases in 15 of the 27 districts in the state. The grant marks the first time the Gates Foundation has given money to a state agency in India; previously, the foundation has donated money to nongovernmental organizations in the country. Chief Minister of Karnataka S.M. Krishna said, "The HIV prevention initiative launched today is unprecedented in scale and scope, and offers an opportunity to demonstrate the potential of public-private partnership." According to the AP/Morning News, about 500,000 of the 4.6 million HIV-positive adults in India live in Karnataka (AP/Dallas Morning News, 12/5).
This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.