Gates Redoubles HIV Prevention Efforts in India

The Gates Foundation is up to its old tricks again, handing out tens of millions of dollars like the rest of us fork over $1.25 for a coffee. Not that they do it without careful thought. (Hence the coffee simile — I mean, what's more important than careful consideration when it comes to the morning joe?)

At any rate, the Foundation has been busy, most recently with a grant of $41 million for a global maternal and child health initiative. Now, an even bigger commitment goes toward HIV prevention in India, reports The Foundation Center.

The Avahan Initiative, launched in 2003, offers important help to HIV prevention programs in six states in India, focusing on truck routes where the disease spreads quickly. The organizations offer counseling, condoms and STD treatment, among other services. Early evaluations suggest that sex workers along the truck routes are more likely to use condoms and that STD rates are decreasing among those at risk. The Gates Foundation is impressed enough with these results to commit $338 million to the initiative this year, up from $258 million.

The Gates Foundation has made an important difference in India. The Foundation reports that this week it will receive the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament, and Development. The Foundation is recognized for “pioneering and exemplary philanthropic work around the world and in India in health.”

The Foundation deserves the recognition; as of this month, it has committed almost $1 billion for health and development initiatives in India.

(Photo courtesy of pulguita on flickr via a Share Alike Creative Commons license)