Twenty years ago, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) was established to lead the global response to the HIV epidemic. Today, PEPFAR is a public health engine: a critical platform for strengthening health systems, preparing for and responding to pandemics, and enabling global health security. Here, we share how PEPFAR made it possible for FHI 360’s teams to effectively respond to COVID-19 in countries with established HIV infrastructure.
Tagged: PEPFAR
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Decolonization of global health is not a future event. This journey started decades ago, before use of the term was common or the development sector saw the concept as disruptive. The goals of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) have been a major catalyst for the shift, with new voices and local viewpoints being elevated to create sustainable change and accomplish many of the targets we have set for global development. While host country nationals are now taking on greater responsibility in their organizations, more can be done to take full advantage of the benefits of diversity and the potential of decolonization.
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The focus of the global effort to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic, now 37 years on, is epidemic control, which the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) defines as limiting the annual number of new HIV infections in a country to less than the number of deaths among people living with HIV.
Sub-Saharan Africa, home to 26 million (70 percent) of the global total of 36.9 million people living with HIV, is where the battle must be won. To succeed and sustain the gains achieved in the past 15 years, countries in Africa will need to assume greater responsibility for managing their epidemics.
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The full version of this post originally appeared on R&E Search for Evidence. Reposted with permission.
The U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is a remarkable success story built on the effective use of data. The achievements of this landmark initiative have played a central role in getting us to the point where we can finally talk about controlling the HIV epidemic and creating an AIDS-free generation.
Through 2016, US$70 billion has been invested in this unprecedented disease control effort. The accomplishments to date have been extraordinary and unimaginable just a few years ago: In 2016 alone, 74 million people were tested for HIV infection; since the start of PEPFAR, 2 million babies were born HIV-free due to women receiving prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) treatment; 12 million voluntary medical male circumcisions have been performed; and PEPFAR accounted for 12 million of the 18 million people globally receiving life-extending antiretroviral therapy (ART).