Fought HIV well but haven’t won yet: Gates initiative head

New Delhi: 3rd August 2011 

In the eight years since the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation launched an HIV prevention initiative in India under its Global Health Program, the country has changed the way it looks at the disease, better checks are in place, and the scare itself has subsided, with 2007 estimates halving the number of infected people to between 2.5 and 3.1 million. The numbers may be encouraging but “it’s way too early to declare a victory”, says Ashok Alexander, director of Avahan, the initiative to reduce the spread of HIV in India. The virus is powerful and capable of coming back, he warns, a signal to the government which is in the process of taking over the various programmes under Avahan.


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