New Delhi: Describing AIDS (Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome) as a major challenge to human survival, government on October 13 said the corporate sector must play a greater role by forging public- private partnerships to fight the dreaded disease.

"Now is the time for corporates to supplement the efforts of the government and other stakeholders, and commit resources. In this context, corporates can, perhaps, play a meaningful role in making available the highly expensive drugs for drug therapy," Minister of State for Commerce and Industry S B Mookherji said at Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) summit on AIDS in New Delhi.

The summit, attended by Tata Sons chairman Ratan Tata, President and Chief Executive Officer Global Business Coalition on HIV Richard Holbrooke, Assistant Administrator-Bureau for Global Health, USAID, Anne Peterson and Senior Vice President, Booz Allen Hamilton, Heather Burns stressed on a greater corporate participation in mitigating the disease.

Pointing out that it was not a matter of statistics, the Minister said the disease could have a serious impact on corporates by affecting their productivity.

Ratan Tata said the business community had not been forthcoming so far, but it had to now put its best foot forward so that the disease did not snowball.

"It is a national, global calamity, a battle which we will all have to fight together. It calls for action not just from government alone but contribution by way of public-private partnership to attack the endemic," Tata said.

PTI