India Plans Free AIDS Therapy

On the eve of an election day in India, the government announced plans to provide free antiretroviral therapy to H.I.V.-positive new parents and H.I.V.-positive children in the six states most affected by the disease. This is part of a larger initiative spearheaded domestically by Sushma Swaraj, India's Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, and internationally by organizations like the World Health Organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the William Jefferson Clinton Foundation. Indian government officials are also negotiating with domestic and foreign businesses that provide generic antiretroviral therapy at reduced rates in Africa and the Caribbean to extend their program into India. Indian corporations particularly are being called upon to help stop the AIDS epidemic, which infects at least 4.6 million people in India. The generic drugs, which cost around a dollar a day, carry too high a price tag for many infected Indians, thus the companies and foundations are asking the Indian government to step in to subsidize their production and lower costs. – YaleGlobal