The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). NIAID's mission is to conduct basic and applied research to better understand, treat, and prevent infectious, immunologic, and allergic diseases.
HIV/AIDS in India is an epidemic. The National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) estimated that 3.14 million people lived with HIV/AIDS in India in 2023. Despite being home to the world's third-largest population of persons with HIV/AIDS, the AIDS prevalence rate in India is lower than that of many other countries. In 2016, India's AIDS prevalence rate stood at approximately 0.30%—the 80th highest in the world. Treatment of HIV/AIDS is via a combination of antiretroviral drugs and education programs to help people avoid infection.
HIV/AIDS was first diagnosed in 1981. As of year-end 2018, 160,493 people have been diagnosed with HIV in the United Kingdom and an estimated 7,500 people are living undiagnosed with HIV. New diagnoses are highest in gay/bisexual men, with an estimated 51% of new diagnosis reporting male same-sex sexual activity as the probable route of infection. Between 2009 and 2018 there was a 32% reduction in new HIV diagnosis, attributed by Public Health England (PHE) to better surveillance and education. PHE has described an "outbreak" in Glasgow amongst people who inject drugs, and has campaigns targeting men who have sex with men in London and other major cities. London was the first city in the world to reach the World Health Organization target for HIV, set at 90% of those with HIV diagnosed, 90% of those diagnosed on HAART and 90% of those on HAART undetectable. The UK as a whole later achieved the same target. Under the Equality Act 2010, it is illegal to discriminate against someone based on their HIV status in the UK.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, also known by its abbreviation MoHFW, is an Indian government ministry charged with health policy in India. It is also responsible for all government programs relating to family planning in India.
David M. Serwadda is a Ugandan physician, medical researcher, academic, public health specialist and medical administrator. Currently he is a Professor of Public Health at Makerere University School of Public Health, one of the schools of Makerere University College of Health Sciences, a semi-autonomous constituent college of Makerere University, the oldest university in Uganda. Serwadda is also a founding member of Accordia Global Health Foundation's Academic Alliance.
Avahan is an initiative sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to reduce the spread of HIV in India. It began in 2003. As of 2009 the Gates Foundation had pledged US$338 million to the programme, whose aim was to reduce HIV transmission and the prevalence of STIs in vulnerable high-risk populations, notably female sex workers, MSM, and injecting drug users (IDU), through prevention education and services such as condom promotion, STI management, behaviour change communication, community mobilisation, and advocacy. Avahan worked in six high-prevalence states. All the states in India who had a HIV prevalence of more than 1 per cent in the year 2002, were considered as HIV high-prevalent states. All the states had a lead partner and other NGOs and CBOs at the district-level who implemented the prevention programme. India HIV/AIDS Alliance is the state lead partner in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka Health Promotion Trust in Karnataka, Path Finder in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu AIDS Initiative and Voluntary Health Services (VHS) in Tamil Nadu. The other two states are Nagaland and Manipur in the North-East of India had Emmanuel Hospital Association and Australian International Health Institute as lead partner. Apart from the State Lead Partners, Avahan had cross-cutting partners for advocacy in Centre for Advocacy and Research, for Police Advocacy in Constella Futures, care and support in CARE. By 2013, control of the programme transitioned to the Government of India in phases. After Avahan, BMGF shifted its focus on TB, maternal and child health and other areas like polio.
Sir Alimuddin Zumla,, FRCP, FRCPath, FRSB is a British-Zambian professor of infectious diseases and international health at University College London Medical School. He specialises in infectious and tropical diseases, clinical immunology, and internal medicine, with a special interest in HIV/AIDS, respiratory infections, and diseases of poverty. He is known for his leadership of infectious/tropical diseases research and capacity development activities. He was awarded a Knighthood in the 2017 Queens Birthday Honours list for services to public health and protection from infectious disease. In 2012, he was awarded Zambia's highest civilian honour, the Order of the Grand Commander of Distinguished services - First Division. In 2023, for the sixth consecutive year, Zumla was recognised by Clarivate Analytics, Web of Science as one of the world's top 1% most cited researchers. In 2021 Sir Zumla was elected as Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences.
Government Hospital of Thoracic Medicine, popularly known as the Tambaram TB Sanatorium, is a major state-owned hospital situated in Chennai, India. The hospital is funded and managed by the state government of Tamil Nadu. It was founded in 1928.
The Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI), established within Makerere University, is a Ugandan not-for-profit organization which aims to strengthen health systems in Africa, with a strong emphasis on infectious diseases; through research and capacity development. In pursuit of its mission both in Uganda and Sub-Saharan Africa, IDI provides care to People Living with HIV (PLHIV) and other infectious diseases, builds capacity among healthcare workers through training and ongoing support, maintains a focus on prevention, and carries out relevant research.
The Kirby Institute is a medical research organisation affiliated with the University of New South Wales and based on UNSW's Kensington campus. Founded in 1986, its initial research focus on HIV/AIDS has expanded over time to include viral hepatitis, sexually transmitted infections and a range of other infectious diseases.
Salim S. Abdool Karim, MBChB, MMed, MS(Epi), FFPHM, FFPath (Virol), DipData, PhD, DSc(hc), FRS is a South African public health physician, epidemiologist and virologist who has played a leading role in the AIDS and COVID-19 pandemic. His scientific contributions have impacted the landscape of HIV prevention and treatment, saving thousands of lives.
Francis Allan Plummer was a Canadian scientist, academic and HIV/AIDS researcher. He was "a recognized specialist in infectious diseases whose work influenced public health policy in Canada and abroad". He was Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Medical Microbiology at the University of Manitoba and Scientific Director General, National Microbiology Laboratory.
Voluntary Health Services, popularly known as the VHS Hospital, is a multispecialty tertiary care referral hospital in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, reportedly serving the economically weaker sections of the society. It was founded in 1958 by Krishnaswami Srinivas Sanjivi, an Indian physician, social worker and a winner of Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awards and is run by a charitable non governmental organization of the same name. The hospital is situated along Rajiv Gandhi Salai at Taramani, in Chennai.
Suniti Solomon was an Indian physician and microbiologist who pioneered AIDS research and prevention in India after having diagnosed the first Indian AIDS cases among the Chennai sex workers in 1986 along with her student Sellappan Nirmala. She founded the Y R Gaitonde Centre for AIDS Research and Education in Chennai. The Indian government conferred the National Women Bio-scientist Award on her. On 25 January 2017, the Government of India awarded her the Padma Shri for medicine for her contributions towards diagnosis and treatment of HIV.
David DuPuy Celentano is a noted epidemiologist and professor who has contributed significantly to the promotion of research on HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). He is the Charles Armstrong chair of the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He holds joint appointments with the school’s departments of Health Policy and Management, Health Behavior and Society, and International Health, and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine’s Division of Infectious Diseases.
Thomas J. Coates is the Director of the multi-campus University of California Global Health Institute, a UC-wide initiative established to improve health and reduce the burden of disease throughout the world. He is Professor Emeritus at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine and Founding Director of the UCLA Center for World Health, a joint initiative of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and UCLA Health, He has conducted extensive research in the realm of HIV and is the Michael and Sue Steinberg Endowed Professor of Global AIDS Research within the Division of Infectious Diseases at UCLA and Distinguished Professor of Medicine. Health-related behavior is of particular interest to Coates. Throughout his career as a health expert, his theory-based research has been focused on interventions aimed at reducing risks and threats to health
Sellappan Nirmala is an Indian doctor who discovered the first case of HIV in India in 1986. In 1985, aged 32, she was working as a microbiology student in Chennai (Madras) and for her dissertation, began collecting blood samples and having them tested for HIV; among them were the first samples collected in India to test positive.
Sten H. Vermund is the Anna M.R. Lauder Professor of Public Health, and former Dean (2017-2022) of the Yale School of Public Health, and also serves as a Professor in Pediatrics at the Yale School of Medicine. He is a pediatrician and infectious disease epidemiologist focused on diseases of low and middle-income countries.
Sunil Suhas Solomon is an Indian academic and associate professor of Medicine, in the Division of Infectious Diseases, at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr Sunil is also the chairman of YRG Care. His work revolves around epidemiology, clinical management and access to HIV and HCV services for at risk populations.
Bisola Ojikutu is an American physician, disease specialist, and researcher. In July 2021, she was appointed as the executive director of the Boston Public Health Commission. Ojikutu is the fifth Commissioner of Public Health for the City of Boston and the first Black person to permanently hold this position. She currently serves on the Cabinet of Mayor Michelle Wu.
