India restores Federal AIDS control program amid budget cuts

The Indian government has decided to fund AIDS control program on Federal support. The government had earlier slashed down budget allocations for AID control program.

With the latest decision, the Indian government is restoring the AIDS control program on fully Federal support. Earlier, Indian central government was trying to involve state governments to contribute to the health project.

This decision caused concerns among the states.

The decision of Indian government to cut down the budget allocations on AIDS control program had drawn flak from all the quarters. Subsequently, the government has decided to restore the program, according to Union Health Minister JP Nadda. 

According to a report by Mail Online, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi reduced the Federal budget by over 20 percent in February and asked all the states to fill the gaps. This brought defame to the globally-acclaimed India's AIDS control program, which was facing funds crunch owing to payment delays.

The lack of funds for the State-run AIDS control program has resulted in the shortage of condoms in the market. Many sex workers were facing problem owing to shortage of condoms.

As part of the community-based AIDS prevention program, the Indian government used to provide condoms at free of cost to high-risk groups. World Bank said that this activity helped avert three million HIV infections during 1995-2015. 

Reuters reveals that data from the Indian government shows the condoms supply is expected to last until December only.

About two-thirds of 31 state AIDS units in the country have stocks for one month only. Some states have stocks of condoms for few days only. If condoms shortage continues it could lead to unsafe sex and will increase HIV infections. This will lead sex workers and poor people suffer the most.

A majority of state governments have complained to the central government about the lack of clarity on AIDS control program. There were no clear-cut norms on how much state government should contribute and how much from the center.

Health workers were unpaid owing to the payment delays. This situation worsened the AID control program implementation.

Speaking on the occasion of World AIDS Day, Nadda said: "We can't be complacent. The Government of India is very serious on this issue." 

The Daily Mail, meanwhile, reports there are 86,000 new HIV infections recorded in 2015 as against the 128,000 in 2007. This shows the rate of HIV infections is decreasing in the country.

The government of India said in a statement that "the slowdown identified in the rate of decrease of new HIV infections in last few years is a key issue."

"The current estimates highlight key challenges that will need to be addressed with urgency", it added.

The AIDS control program the way it was implemented in India was globally acclaimed. The HIV prevalence during 2007-15 declined from 0.34 percent to 0.26 percent among adults, while annual HIV-related deaths declined by over half to 67,000.