• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• Business Line
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

P.T. Jyothi Datta

Mumbai , Sept. 7

TATA Steel's proposal to extend its HIV/AIDS programme from its workforce to the community in Jamshedpur was not able to avail itself of funds from the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria - despite the merits of the proposal.

But the Global Fund's Executive Director, Professor Richard Feachem, hopes to discuss this incident with Mr Ratan Tata during the former's visit to India next week in an effort to encourage more corporates to get involved in HIV/AIDS control programmes.

"Tata Steel's proposal to extend its HIV/AIDS programme from the labour-force to the community had been excluded by the Country Coordination Mechanism (CCM). This was very disappointing. But Global Fund would like to see more well thought-out corporate proposals. I would meet Mr Ratan Tata in Mumbai to discuss why the proposal did not make it. We would like to encourage corporate leaders to go forward with good proposals for their workforce and the community where they live," Professor Feachem told Business Line from the Maldives.

A multilateral funding agency, the Fund was constituted in January 2002 through a partnership of governments, civil society and communities. It supports 300 programmes in 130 countries and currently funds five-year programmes to the tune of $8 billion.

Proposals for programmes to deal with HIV/AIDS, TB or malaria are forwarded usually by the Government or non-government organisations to the CCM, who, in turn, forward it to the Fund. The CCM comprises officials from public and private sector, NGOs and other multilateral agencies.

Elaborating on corporate involvement, he said: "Tata Tea can implement similar programmes in its tea estates for the workers. Another opportunity is the Indian Railways, the world's largest employer. The Railways has mobile men, who are engines of the epidemic."

South Africa has taken such initiatives to the next level and corporates interested in undertaking similar programmes could look at the projects by Coca-Cola, Anglo American Mining Company or DaimlerChrysler, he said.

He also called for corporate participation "in kind".

"Pharma companies like Ranbaxy, Hetero or Cipla could provide anti-AIDS drugs or anti-malarial drugs. Info-tech companies could provide smart cards to help monitor or track patients through having patient data stored digitally on cards."

India is estimated to have 5.1 million HIV/AIDS patients and Global Fund resources will now be disbursed through the Government and a consortium of NGOs, a departure from the previous method of routing funds through the Government, he said. The fund has allocated $413 million for five-year programmes in the country.

Professor Feachem is slated to meet the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, the Congress President, Ms Sonia Gandhi, the Union Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram and the Union Health Minister, Mr A. Ramdoss, during his visit to India next week.

More Stories on : Society & Development | Health

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
SRMB Udyog mulls replacement of construction bar range

Copyright © 2004, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line