foundation’s national HIV/AIDS prevention

India – AVAHAN: Taking Empowerment with Sex Workers to Scale42
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation established Avahan (“call to action” in Sanskrit) as
the foundation’s national HIV/AIDS prevention initiative in India in 2003. To date, Avahan
has committed US$ 258 million, including US$ 23 million to support the capacity of the
Government of India to implement, monitor, and evaluate HIV prevention programmes.
The goal of Avahan is to prevent further HIV transmission in India by expanding access
to effective prevention programmes in the six states where infection rates are highest
and along the nation’s major trucking routes. Avahan targets people most vulnerable to
infection—sex workers, their clients and partners (including long-distance truck drivers),
high-risk men who have sex with men, and injecting drug users. Avahan works with 290 000
sex workers and injecting drug users and six million men who frequent sex workers.
Based in Delhi, Avahan comprises a team of foundation employees with private sector
and public health experience. The team works close to the ground, reviewing the initiative’s
impact and continually refining activities in consultation with the Government of
India, international organizations, and nongovernmental organizations.