Maharashtra State AIDS Control Society coordinator in Pune Sachin Pawar, when contacted, said there were 11 Integrated Counselling and Treatment Centres (ICTCs) for providing medical tests to the high-risk groups. Pawar pointed out that only a few among the MSM reported for treatment at present.

The MSACS provides funds to Sambhavana Group for targeting at least 1,000 MSM a year, the other two NGOs — Samapathik Trust and Udaan — gets funds from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation via nodal agency Pathfinder. B M Khire of the Sampathik Trust says they receive Rs 18-20 lakh for the project and so far they have access to 1,700 MSM. “We adopt the snowball approach. Like a ball that rolls and gathers snow and becomes large, we start with a single MSM and tell him about the pitfalls of unsafe sex.”