PEPFAR Project Description Connect
Duration: October 2006 - June 2011
Partners: Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry
Y.R. Gaitonde Center for AIDS Research & Education
Karnataka Health Promotion Trust
11 Private Sector Partnerships
Geographic Focus: Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu
Project Profile: The Connect Project is one of three components under the umbrella of the $49-million Enhance Project and seeks to leverage and build public-private partnerships (PPP) to increase the use of prevention, care and treatment interventions that will prevent/mitigate the effects of HIV/AIDS and TB. The Connect Project plays a facilitating role to encourage leadership and networking between the organized and unorganized private sector, NGOs and government facilities to provide the prevention to care continuum of services. The project is led by PSI and implemented in partnership with Y R Gaitonde Centre for AIDS Research and Education (YRG CARE), the University of Manitoba and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), which has a nationwide membership of over 1,500 corporations.
Key Ongoing Activities: The Connect Project aims to promote a vigorous commercial sector response to HIV/AIDS and TB by using the following innovative strategies of private sector engagement:
- Build public private partnership models of motivating at-risk workers to adopt safer health practices in HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis (TB) - these include mapping the health seeking behavior for HIV, STI/RTI and TB related services for at risk workers, identifying and establishing linkages with select ESIC hospitals and existing accredited public and private health care providers for providing RTI/STI treatment, TB diagnostic and treatment (DOTS) HIV counseling and treatment services, PPTCT services, care and treatment services to provide referrals for HIV positive clients and condom social marketing activities.
- Mobilize increased engagement of the insurance sector in HIV/AIDS mitigation in line with the National AIDS Control Program (NACP-III)
- Develop models for the Prevention of Parent to Child Transmission (PPTCT) of HIV/AIDS in the private medical sector
- Build sustainable Corporate Partnerships and mobilize resources from industries for the cause of HIV/AIDS and TB
- Strengthen the systems for scale up and transition of successful PPP approaches in HIV/AIDS and TB programs through effective linkages with NACO and SACS, USG partners, provider networks and professional and industry associations.
Project Achievements and Innovations:
- More than 220 companies have signed up for HIV/AIDS and TB work place intervention programs. More than 150,000 employees in these companies are being reached and over US $50,000 raised to support HIV/AIDS activities.
- Designed and developed India's first group health insurance scheme for people living with HIV/AIDS through a public-private partnership. The pilot insurance scheme was launched in Karnataka in April 2008. The scale-up is currently underway in four high prevalence southern states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.
- 11 Voluntary Counselling and Testing Centres (5 static and 6 mobile) have provided Counseling and Testing services to over 46,000 clients to date. Of these 11 centers, 7 are in a PPP with the local SACS.
- As part of the communication activities focusing on most-at-risk workers, nearly 500,000 vulnerable individuals from the most-at-risk economic sectors have been reached with HIV/AIDS prevention messages.
- Mobilized over US $1.1 million from over thirty industries in India for the cause of HIV/AIDS and TB. Some prominent contributors are Apollo Tyres, Tata Power, Suzlon, Johnson & Johnson, Big FM, Jindal Steel, O&M, National Mineral Development Corporation and Computer Science Corporation.
- More than 7,500 pregnant women counseled and tested at three PPTCT centers at private hospitals in Bangalore, Vishakhapatnam and Chennai. With about 3% positivity rate around 250 HIV positive pregnant women have been enrolled for the complete package of PPTCT services. Of these 250 enrolled mothers, 180 have already delivered babies. Among the babies delivered 150 were tested for HIV and 145 have been found to be HIV negative.
- Providing technical assistance to National AIDS Control Program on PPP and Mainstreaming activities as outlined in the NACP-III, including supporting Technical Support Units in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
For Further Information: http://www.psi.org/india