Documenting Avahan, the India AIDS Initiative
The Population Council is synthesizing and analyzing the wealth of data collected by Avahan to gain insight that will guide future initiatives for HIV prevention in India and other countries with similar concentrated epidemics.
In 2003, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched Avahan, an initiative to reduce the spread of HIV in India by expanding access to HIV prevention programs in six states of India that have high infection rates.
Avahan is serving those most vulnerable to HIV infection, including 220,000 female sex workers, 80,000 men who have sex with men and transgendered people, 18,000 injecting drug users, and approximately 5 million truckers and clients of sex workers who are at risk of contracting HIV. The scale of this operation and the diversity of the intervention environment make Avahan a “live laboratory” of learning for HIV prevention. Since its start, a total of 24 distinguished organizations/universities, including the Population Council, have been involved in program implementation, monitoring, evaluation, advocacy, and knowledge-building.
During this period, extensive data have been collected by Avahan’s partners. This project aims to synthesize and analyze this wealth of data to draw out programmatic findings that can be used to guide future initiatives for HIV prevention in India and other countries with similar concentrated epidemics.
Offsite link: IndiaHIV: A Knowledge Sharing Portal
Adherence to antiretroviral therapy and its effect on survival of HIV-infected individuals in Jharkhand, India (abstract) (HTML)
Rai,Sandeep; Mahapatra,Bidhubhusan; Sircar,Subhashish; Raj,Pinnamaneni Yujwal; Venkatesh,Srinivasan; Shaukat,Mohammed; Rewari,Bharat Bhusan
PLoS ONE 8(6): 66860-
Publication date: 2013
Are female sex workers able to negotiate condom use with male clients? The case of mobile FSWs in four high HIV prevalence states of India (abstract) (HTML)
Bharat,Shalini; Mahapatra,Bidhubhusan; Roy,Suchismita; Saggurti,Niranjan
PLoS ONE 8(6): e68043-
Publication date: 2013
Community collectivization and its association with consistent condom use and STI treatment-seeking behaviors among female sex workers and high-risk men who have sex with men/transgenders in Andhra Pradesh, India (abstract) (HTML)
Saggurti,Niranjan; Mishra,Ram Manohar; Proddutoor,Laxminarayana; Tucker,Saroj; Kovvali,Dolly; Parimi,Prabhakar; Wheeler,Tisha
AIDS Care 25(Supplement 1): 55-66
Publication date: 2013
Degree and correlates of sexual mixing in female sex workers in Karnataka, India (abstract) (HTML)
Mahapatra,Bidhubhusan; Lowndes,Catherine M.; Gurav,Kaveri; Ramesh,Banadakoppa M.; Moses,Stephen; Washington,Reynold G.; Alary,Michel
Sexual Health Published online ahead of print, 8 May
Publication date: 2013
Documentation of HIV prevention research and programmatic learnings from India (PDF)
Selected peer-reviewed journal publications from the Knowledge Network Project, Volume 1
Publication date: 2013
Evaluating the McDonald's business model for HIV prevention among truckers to improve program coverage and service utilization in India, 2004-2010 (abstract) (HTML)
Rao,Vasudha Tirumalasetti; Mahapatra,Bidhubhusan; Juneja,Sachin; Singh,Indra Ramayash
HIV/AIDS - Research and Palliative Care 5: 51-60
Publication date: 2013
Factors associated with risky sexual practices among female sex workers in Karnataka, India (abstract) (HTML)
Mahapatra,Bidhubhusan; Lowndes,Catherine M.; Mohanty,Sanjay Kumar; Gurav,Kaveri; Ramesh,Banadakoppa M.; Moses,Stephen; Washington,Reynold G.; Alary,Michel
PLoS ONE 8(4): e62167-
Publication date: 2013
Impact of an HIV prevention intervention on condom use among long distance truckers in India (abstract) (PDF)
Juneja,Sachin; Tirumalasetti,Vasudha Rao; Mishra,Ram Manohar; Sethu,Shekhar; Singh,Indra Ramayash
AIDS and Behavior 17(3): 1040-1051
Publication date: 2013
Male migrants' non-spousal sexual partnerships in the place of origin: An in-depth investigation in two rural settings of India (abstract) (HTML)
Ganju,Deepika; Mahapatra,Bidhubhusan; Saggurti,Niranjan
Culture, Health and Sexuality 15(3): 341-357
Publication date: 2013
Self-report of STI symptoms, inconsistent condom use and condom non-use are poor predictors of STI prevalence among men who have sex with men (abstract) (HTML)
Nagarajan,Karikalan; Godbole,Sheela; Ramakrishnan,Lakshmi; Mainkar,Mandar; Ramesh,Sowmya; Ganju,Deepika; Paranjape,Ramesh S.
Journal of AIDS & Clinical Research 4(5): 212-
Publication date: 2013
The association between noncommercial partnerships and risk of HIV among female sex workers: Evidences from a cross-sectional behavioral and biological survey in southern India (abstract) (HTML)
Pullikalu,Renuka Somanatha; Mishra,Ram Manohar; Saggurti,Niranjan; Parimi,Prabhakar
AIDS Research and Treatment 2013(Article ID 108630)
Publication date: 2013
Anal sex and associated HIV-related sexual risk factors among female sex workers in Andhra Pradesh, India (abstract) (HTML)
Patra,Rajesh Kumar; Mahapatra,Bidhubhusan; Kovvali,Dolly; Proddutoor,Laxminarayana; Saggurti,Niranjan
Sexual Health 9: 430-437
Publication date: 2012
Changing epidemiology of HIV in Mumbai: An application of the Asian epidemic model (abstract) (PDF)
Mishra,Ram Manohar; Dube,Madhulika; Sahu,Damodar; Saggurti,Niranjan; Pandey,Arvind
Global Journal of Health Science 4(5): 100-112
Publication date: 2012
HIV risk behaviors among female sex workers using cell phone for client solicitation in India (abstract) (HTML)
Mahapatra,Bidhubhusan; Saggurti,Niranjan; Halli,Shiva S.; Jain,Anrudh K.
Journal of AIDS & Clinical Research S1: 014-
Publication date: 2012
How effective is community mobilisation in HIV prevention among highly diverse sex workers in urban settings? The Aastha intervention experience in Mumbai and Thane districts, India (abstract) (PDF)
Singh Gaikwad,Sanjeev; Bhende,Amrita; Nidhi,Gaurav; Saggurti,Niranjan; Ranebennur,Virupax
Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health 66(suppl 2): ii69-ii77
Publication date: 2012
Navigating the swampy lowland: A framework for evaluating the effect of community mobilisation in female sex workers in Avahan, the India AIDS Initiative (abstract) (PDF)
Galavotti,Christine; Wheeler,Tisha; Sebert Kuhlmann,Anne; Saggurti,Niranjan; Narayanan,Pradeep; Kiran,Usha; Dallabetta,Gina
Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health 66(suppl 2): ii9-ii15
Publication date: 2012
The association between adolescent entry into the trucking industry and risk of HIV among long-distance truck drivers in India (abstract) (HTML)
Mishra,Ram Manohar; Dube,Madhulika; Saggurti,Niranjan; Pandey,Arvind; Mahapatra,Bidhubhusan; Ramesh,Sowmya
HIV/AIDS - Research and Palliative Care 4: 141-148
Publication date: 2012
Understanding the association between injecting and sexual risk behaviors of injecting drug users in Manipur and Nagaland, India (abstract) (HTML)
Suoho,Khrieketou; Humtsoe,Chumben; Saggurti,Niranjan; Sabarwal,Shrutika; Mahapatra,Bidhubhusan; Kermode,Michelle
Harm Reduction Journal 9: 40-
Publication date: 2012
Project Stats
Location: India
Program(s):
HIV and AIDS
Topic(s):
HIV prevention
Injecting drug users
Men who have sex with men
Mobile populations
Sex workers
Duration: 1/2009 - 1/2014
Population Council researchers:
Niranjan Saggurti
Non-Council collaborators:
Equity in Gender and Health Trust, within St. John's Research Institute
Institute of Economic Growth, affiliated with Delhi University
National AIDS Research Institute
National Institute of Medical Statistics
Tata Institute of Social Sciences
Donors:
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
What's New
- In India, the Council and its partners are improving the way lessons from a decade of HIV prevention programs are shared. Since 2011, through the Knowledge Network, 61 program managers were trained in scientific writing and 32 peer-reviewed papers published. A collection of peer-reviewed articles showcases the success of this project. (PDF)
Get Involved
- Make a contribution to the Population Council
- Honor a loved one with a gift in his or her name
- Sign up to receive e-mail announcements
Connect
