31 May 2010
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has granted $5 million to the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) to strengthen the National Tobacco Control Programme in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, over a three–year period (2009–2012).
The grant provided for the project on Strengthening of Tobacco Control Efforts Through Innovative Partnerships and Strategies (STEPS) will provide the much–needed district–specific strategic response to the rapidly escalating global tobacco epidemic. Project STEPS will work in the following districts: Prakasam, Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, Mahboodnagar, Karim Nagar and Kurnool (Andhra Pradesh) and Kheda, Rajkot, Banaskantha, Anand and Surat (Gujarat).