February 14, 2006 Source: University of Manitoba:
http://myuminfo.umanitoba.ca/index.asp?sec=209&too=100&dat=2/17/2006&sta=3&wee=3&eve=8&npa=10051 $5.9 MILLION FROM GATES FOUNDATION FOR HIV/AIDS PROJECT IN INDIA Over the next four years, University of Manitoba researchers will receive US $5.9 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for a new project aimed at reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS in India. The grant is part of Avahan, the foundation’s HIV prevention initiative in India. The "Corridors Project" will provide HIV prevention programs and services for female sex workers and high risk men along the migration corridors between rural areas of northern Karnataka and the urban centres of southern Maharashtra. The project will also include systems for linking migrant sex workers to programs and services when they change locations. Working primarily in partnership with sex worker collectives, the project plans to ensure access to HIV-related education and counseling, condom provision, and high quality clinical services for sexually transmitted disease management for more than 13,000 female sex workers in these districts. The project will actively work to reduce the vulnerability of sex workers by strengthening the sex worker collectives, and providing legal and other social supports for them. The project’s leader is James Blanchard, associate professor of community health sciences and medical microbiology, and Canada Research Chair in epidemiology and global public health at the University of Manitoba. "Until now, most of the HIV prevention programs in India have been urban-focused and geographically static, and there are important prevention gaps in high-risk rural areas," Blanchard said. "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." "The University of Manitoba group is established as a world leader in understanding risk and vulnerability to HIV/AIDS in sex worker communities in developing countries," said John O’Neil, head of the department of community health sciences. "This funding will allow us to further enhance our knowledge about transmission dynamics in rural communities in India where sex workers are highly mobile, and develop more successful programs to prevent further spread of this epidemic". "Our HIV/AIDS researchers are working hard to save lives and to slow the spread of this devastating disease," said Joanne Keselman, vice-president (research) at the University of Manitoba. "This funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will allow Dr. Blanchard and his team to continue to make progress, and to reach out even further to help some of the most vulnerable populations." For more information, please contact: Dr. James Blanchard (Bangalore, India) Tel: 011-91-98451-08183 Note: Bangalore is 11.5 hours ahead of Winnipeg time. Dr. John O’Neil Head, Community Health Sciences University of Manitoba Tel: 204-789-3434 Cell: 204-510-1621 Frank Nolan Research Promotion University of Manitoba Tel: 204-474-7300 For more information, contact:
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