India’s National AIDS Program Launches ‘E-Consultation’ To Seek Input From NGOs on Expanding Antiretroviral Treatment
India's National AIDS Control Organization on Tuesday launched an "e-consultation" to seek input from nongovernmental organizations on the group's policies, NACO Director S.Y. Quraishi said, the Indo-Asian News Service reports. NACO will consult with more than 950 Indian NGOs, as well as UNAIDS-appointed experts, to discuss the group's next phase, which seeks to expand access to antiretroviral treatment, especially for women and children. "We have an opportunity to develop a plan that in the next five years will effectively control and reverse the spread of the epidemic that touches our lives in several ways," Quraishi said. Solution Exchange -- an initiative of the U.N. Country Team in India that offers a forum for communities of development practitioners -- will facilitate the e-consultation, which will examine 13 issues, including HIV/AIDS prevention, care and support; community mobilization; the rights of HIV-positive people; and women's issues. Quraishi said that people can register to participate by visiting the UNAIDS India Web site at unaids.org.in (Indo-Asian News Service, 7/19). UNAIDS estimates that more than five million HIV-positive people live in India, and NACO says about 103,000 of those people are living with AIDS (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 7/12).
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