Nepal to keep up AIDS fight

NEPAL: In a bid to stay afloat in its fight against HIV/AIDS after 2011, Nepali Government has applied for the 10th round of Global Fund (GF), The Kathmandu Post reported Monday.

According to the daily, Country Coordinator Committee has submitted its final proposal to GF, seeking the fund amounting 57 million US dollars after holding broad consultations with stakeholders and civil society, said Dr. Krishna Kumar Rai, Director of National Center for AIDS and STD Control under the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP).

Earlier too, the Government had also submitted such a proposal in the eight and ninth rounds of GF in 2008 and 2009.

Technical Review Panel of GF will review the final proposal and forward views to its board. Holding a meeting in December, the board will decide whether or not to provide fund.

Rai was quoted by the daily as saying the Department for International Development and the United Nations Development Fund, the major donors for HIV/AIDS program, will complete their projects launched to control the deadly disease by the end of 2011. This will further compund Nepal’ woes to fight againstHIV/AIDS.

“If Nepal fails to receive the fund this year, it will be difficult for the government to continue the ongoing programs related to HIV/AIDS,” said Rai.

According to the proposal forwarded to GF, the government is planning to run the program in an integrated way by including all higher risk groups-intravenous drug users, commercial sex workers and their clients, male homosexuals, migrant laborers and their spouses living in Nepal.

The Government is also planning to strengthen its health system from bottom to top to control HIV/AIDS.

According to a MoHP estimate, there are some 70,000 HIV positives in the country. Of them, 41 percent HIV victims are migrant population, especially from India, and 21.5 percent are their spouse living in rural areas.

Kathmandu, Monday ,Xinhua