New Delhi: In order to fight AIDS in the northeast region, the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) has launched its sub-office at Guwahati in Assam.

The five year plan backed with an $8.9 million funding from the Australian administration will be mutually followed out with the help of U.N. delegacies.

The project will also get $650,000 from the Swedish government for three years.

Aimed at reducing the risk and impact of HIV and AIDS in the north-east, the main elements of the scheme comprise support, capacity building, proper care and advocacy for women and kids and building up advanced state-specific programmes.

This comprises reaching out to the remote areas by building up a network of services together with the state machinery plus other community-based service suppliers and hiring a community and social action to spread HIV alertness.

While introducing the plan, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Panabaka Lakshmi stated that the scheme was the culmination of the expressed needs of the northeast States.

It demonstrated the close partnership between the administration, the U.N. system and donor authorities to team up and support the national response to HIV.

Minister of State for Labour (independent charge) Oscar Fernandes, who is also convenor of the Parliamentarians Forum on HIV/AIDS was also present at the function, reiterated the government’s commitment to fight the disease.

Swedish Ambassador Lars-Olof Lindgren hoped that the project would support the affiliation between civil society organisations and the administration to promote the response to HIV and AIDS in the region.

Two of the six high prevalent States such as Manipur and Nagaland are in the northeast. Estimations explain that 30 percent of the injecting drug users in the country are in this region.

Even though Assam and Meghalaya are low prevalence States, presence of other high risk groups and injecting drug use has been reported.