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The Union
Minister of State for Health & Family Welfare, Panabaka Lakshmi
launched the Joint UN Programme on HIV and AIDS Prevention and
Care in the North-Eastern States. This is a unique endeavour,
which demonstrates a strong partnership between the Government
of India, the UN system and the donors, the Governments of
Australia and Sweden to improve the quality of and augment
response to the HIV epidemic in North-East India. Oscar
Fernandes, Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the
Ministry of Labour & Employment was also present at the
function.
As part of the programme, a NACO sub-office has been established
in Guwahati to provide enhanced support to the programme in the
North-East and strengthen a decentralized response. The
sub-office will report directly to NACO and work in tandem with
the National Rural Health Mission. The overall operations of the
Joint UN Programme will be governed by a Programme Steering
Committee, chaired by the Director General, NACO. It will
include the Team Leader of the NACO sub-office, State AIDS
Control Societies, Project Directors, UN Resident Coordinator,
UNAIDS Country Coordinator, Chair of UN Theme Group and
representatives from the Governments of Australia and Sweden.
The Australian Government has made available AUD 10 million
(approximately USD 8 million) for a period of over 5 years
(2007-2011) for technical assistance. This will be delivered
through the UN system for four North-East States (Meghalaya,
Mizoram, Manipur and Nagaland) and for the establishment of the
NACO sub-office in Guwahati, Assam. The Government of Sweden
will provide USD 650,000 over the three-year period (2006-2008),
through the UN system. This will primarily be used for capacity
building of civil society organisations in the North-Eastern
region.
November 2007
Source:
PIB
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