Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has allocated to the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada, $5.9 million for a project aimed at preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS in India.
University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, has constituted the new "Corridors Project" will provide HIV prevention programmes and services for migrant women sex workers and high-risk men along the corridors between rural areas of northern Karnataka and the urban centres of southern Maharashtra.The grant is part of "Avahan", the foundation's HIV prevention initiative in India.
"The urban areas of southern Maharashtra are a primary destination for migrant sex workers from rural Karnataka. So a major focus of this project will be the commercial sexual networks that facilitate HIV transmission along migration corridors between these regions," said James Blanchard, project leader of the university.
Blanchard is an associate professor of community health sciences and medical microbiology, and Canada Research Chair in epidemiology and global public health at the university.
"Until now, most of the HIV prevention programmes in India have been urban-focused and geographically static, and there are important prevention gaps in high-risk rural areas," he said.
--Edited IANS
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