New Delhi, March 7 (IANS) A Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday approved the continuation of the National AIDS Control Programme-IV (NACP-IV) beyond the 12th Five Year Plan for a period of three more years.

According to the decision, the NACP has been extended from April 2017 to March 2020 and the total outlay will be Rs 6,434.76 crore.

More than 70 lakh of the population is covered annually under this comprehensive HIV prevention programme.

More than 2.32 crore lakh units of blood will be collected at NACO supported blood banks during the three years of the project and 2.82 crore lakh episodes of sexually transmitted infections will be managed in this time frame.

Seventeen lakh people living with HIV will be put on free anti-retroviral treatment by the end of the project.

--IANS som/rs/bg