PEPFAR Making Strides in HIV Prevention and Care
USAID HIV/AIDS Care and Support Program highlights results at annual performance review

WEDNESDAY, JULY 9, 2008  Addis Ababa (U.S. Embassy) – Today, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) HIV/AIDS Care and Support Program unveiled impressive progress and achievements at its first annual review meeting at the Sheraton Hotel.  Dr. Kebede Worku, State Minister of Health, and Nancy Estes, USAID Acting Mission Director, delivered remarks at the event. 

Since its June 2007 inception, the program has supported nearly 400 health centers that offer comprehensive HIV and TB counseling and testing services, including supporting life-saving antiretroviral treatment for more than 21,000 people and training approximately 1,500 health providers in HIV and TB counseling and testing curriculum.  Working in partnership with the Government of Ethiopia to rapidly expand services, the program has also provided HIV counseling and testing for over 934,000 people.

The USAID HIV/AIDS Care and Support Program is funded through the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the largest international health initiative in history dedicated to a single disease.  The five-year, $18.8 billion, works in countries around the world to combat HIV/AIDS through programs to prevent HIV infection, and provide comprehensive care and treatment to those affected and infected by HIV/AIDS.  Globally, PEPFAR supported life-saving antiretroviral treatment for approximately 1.73 million men, women and children through March 31, 2008.

The national expansion HIV/AIDS services at the community and health center level made possible by USAID’s HIV/AIDS Care and Support Program in Ethiopia is one of the largest in Africa.  The three-year program in Ethiopia aims to strengthen health systems and rapidly scale up diagnostic and treatment services for HIV/AIDS and TB.  The program uses a results-oriented framework, a family-focused approach, and performance-based contracting to engage a large number of public and private institutions in the rapid scale-up of services.  The program targets five key regions: Amhara, Addis Ababa, Oromiya, SNNPR, and Tigray.

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