India: Third National HIV/AIDS Control Project

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The objective of the Third National HIV/AIDS control project in India is to contribute to the National Aids Control Program's (NACP III) goal of halting and reversing the AIDS epidemic by attaining the following project objectives in accordance with two of the national program's strategic objectives: achieving behavior change by scaling up prevention of new infections in high risk groups and general population; and increased care, support and treatment of PLHIV. The project has four components with the first being the scaling up prevention efforts. Since 99 percent of the population is uninfected, prevention remains the top priority of the project, which aims to reduce new infections through saturation of coverage. The second component is the strengthening of care, support and treatment. This involves a comprehensive strategy to strengthen family and community care, provide psycho-social support for PLHIV (especially marginalized women and children), and to ensure accessible, affordable and sustainable treatment services. The third component is augmenting capacity at district, state and national levels. This planned decentralization and scaling-up of activities will require new and additional capacity at the various levels. Finally, the last component is the strengthening strategic information management. A strategic information management unit (SIMU) will be supported in order to maximize the effectiveness of available information and implement evidence-based planning.