The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and India have signed a USD128.4 million grant agreement that will support the extension of health programs of the country’s National AIDS Control Organization.
The three-year agreement would support an initiative aimed at preventing parent-to-child HIV transmission and a program that would provide integrated counseling and testing services to people living with HIV. The grant would also be used to deliver collaborative HIV and tuberculosis services.
Poor performance on MDGs
Meanwhile, a new report suggests that India is lagging behind schedule on achieving the U.N. Millennium Development Goals despite the country’s progress in the goals relating to education, rural environment and access to water.
The country - especially the states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra - needs to step up its MDG-related projects so it can achieve the eight goals by 2015, the report said, according to Sify.
The report, dubbed “Millennium Development Goals: India Country Report 2009,” was prepared by the Indian government and was presented in a round-table discussion attended by representatives from the United Nations Development Program, among others.