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1- What is NACO?
Background
National Council on AIDS
Soon after reporting of the first few HIV/AIDS cases in the country in 1986, Government recognized the seriousness of the problem and took a series of important measures to tackle the epidemic. By this time AIDS had already attained epidemic proportion in the African region and was spreading rapidly in many countries of the world. Government of India without wasting any time initiated steps and started pilot screening of high risk population. A high powered National AIDS Committee was constituted in 1986 itself and a National AIDS Control Programme was launched in year 1987. National AIDS Committee
To formulate strategy and plan for implementation of prevention and control of HIV/AIDS in the country, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare constituted a National AIDS Committee in Year 1986, under the chairmanship of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare with representatives from various sectors. The committee was formed with a view to bring together various ministries, non-Government organizations and private institutions for effective co-ordination in implementing the programme. The committee acts as the highest-level deliberation body to oversee the performance of the programme and to provide overall policy directions, and to forge multicultural collaborations. Last meeting (5th) of the National AIDS Committee was held on 24th September, 1998 in Vigyan Bhavan, presided over by the Hon'ble Minister of state for Health & Family Welfare. In the initial years the programme focused on generation of public awareness through more communication programme, introduction of blood screening for transfusion purpose and conducting surveillance activities in the epicenters of the epidemic.
National AIDS Committee-Members Medium Term Plan for HIV/AIDS Control In year 1989, with the support of WHO, a medium term plan for HIV/AIDS Control was developed with a US $10 million budget provided from external sources. Project documents for the implementation of this plan were developed and implemented in 5 states and UTs which were most affected namely Maharashtra , Tamil Nadu, West Bengal , Manipur, and Delhi . Initial activities focused on the reinforcement of programme management capacities as well as targeted IEC and Surveillance activities. Actual preventive activities like implementation of education and awareness programme, blood safety measures, control of hospital infection, condom promotion to prevent HIV/AIDS, strengthening of clinical services for both STD and HIV/AIDS gained momentum only in 1992. NACP in the States & UTs State Level Strengthening
In order to strengthen the programme management at the state level, the state Governments have established their own managerial organizations which include state AIDS control societies(formerly, State AIDS cells), technical advisory committees and empowered committees as per the guidelines of the strategic plan. The structure of the State AIDS Societies is shown below. Progress in the development of state management teams has been satisfactory, although some states have responded effectively than others. Empowered Committee
At the state level, an empowered committee has been constituted by the states either under the chairmanship of chief secretary or additional chief secretary at par with the National AIDS Control Board at central level. This committee takes the policy decisions for implementation of the HIV/AIDS control programme in the respective states and approve administrative and financial actions which otherwise would have been approved by the state department of finance.
State AIDS Control Societies
State AIDS Cells were created in all the 32 States and UTs of the country for the effective implementation and management of National AIDS Control Programme. However over the period of time it was realized that due to many cumbersome administrative and financial procedures, there was delay in release of financial outlay sanction by Government of India due to which the implementation of the Programme at different levels suffered. In order to remove the bottlenecks faced by the programme implementation at State level, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare advised the State Governments/Union Territories to constitute a registered society under the chairmanship of the Secretary Health. The society should be broad based with it members representing from various ministries like social welfare, Education, Industry, Transport, Finance etc. and Non Government Organizations. On an experimental basis Tamil Nadu AIDS Control Society was created which was followed by Pondicherry . Successful functioning of these societies led to the Government of India to advise other states to follow this pattern for implementation of the National AIDS Control Programme.
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