New HIV infections in India could rise for the first time in more than a decade because states are mismanaging a prevention programme by delaying payments to health workers, J.V.R. Prasada Rao, the United Nations envoy for AIDS in Asia and the Pacific said. India's efforts to fight HIV have for years centred around community-based programmes and won praise globally but Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February cut the federal AIDS budget by a fifth and asked states to fill the gap, even though their poorly-run bureaucracies were already slow in releasing funds to their AIDS prevention units. As a result, staff salaries have been delayed for months and prevention activities have slowed down.