What will happen to AIDS relief after Bush?
Jan 23, 2007
PRESIDENT Bush’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) will expire when American president George Bush leaves office in 2008. What will happen after that?
By Elvis Basudde
PRESIDENT Bush’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) will expire when American president George Bush leaves office in 2008. What will happen after that?
What will the thousands of beneficiaries do and what will happen to the programmes under the relief fund? Can government take it over and sustain it?
The PEPFAR plan is the largest global health initiative by a single nation to address a single disease, HIV/AIDS. Supporting over 120 nations, PEPFAR is dedicated to mitigating the impact of HIV/AIDS and to placing as many eligible persons as possible on free anti-retroviral treatment (ART).
“Before PEPFAR, only 50,000 people of the more than four million people in sub-Sahara Africa needing immediate AIDS treatment were getting medicine. After two years of sustainable effort, approximately 400,000 people are receiving the treatment they need,†Bush said on the World AIDS Day on December 1, 2005
Uganda is one of the PEPFAR 15 focus countries that have received grants to address HIV/AIDS. In 2005, it supported 60 prime partners (with 160 local sub-partners), working directly with the Ministry of Health. Mulago Hospital gets the biggest portion of free ARVs from PEPFAR.
During a video conference at the American centre in Lusaka, Zambia, Jimmy Kolker, the deputy US Global AIDS coordinator and former ambassador to Uganda, said PEPFAR may change shape but the funding will continue. “There is no feeling here that this is just a five-year programme,†he said. “There is no question that this kind of funding will stop. We are not walking away from the people who are on this programme. We have a commitment to make sure that people who get life-saving treatment such as ARVs will continue with that course of treatment.â€
Kolker was teleconferencing with 36 journalists from 14 countries at the six-day International Workshop on HIV/AIDS reporting in Lusaka recently.
The theme of the conference was “Editorial Leadership in HIV/AIDS Reporting: Changing Hearts, Minds and Behaviours.â€
The countries which participated were: Uganda, Zambia, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Guyana, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa and Vietnam.
The objective was to create and enhance journalists’ understanding of HIV/AIDS issues and stimulate correct, consistent and in-depth informed reporting.
PRESIDENT Bush’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) will expire when American president George Bush leaves office in 2008. What will happen after that?
What will the thousands of beneficiaries do and what will happen to the programmes under the relief fund? Can government take it over and sustain it?
The PEPFAR plan is the largest global health initiative by a single nation to address a single disease, HIV/AIDS. Supporting over 120 nations, PEPFAR is dedicated to mitigating the impact of HIV/AIDS and to placing as many eligible persons as possible on free anti-retroviral treatment (ART).
“Before PEPFAR, only 50,000 people of the more than four million people in sub-Sahara Africa needing immediate AIDS treatment were getting medicine. After two years of sustainable effort, approximately 400,000 people are receiving the treatment they need,†Bush said on the World AIDS Day on December 1, 2005
Uganda is one of the PEPFAR 15 focus countries that have received grants to address HIV/AIDS. In 2005, it supported 60 prime partners (with 160 local sub-partners), working directly with the Ministry of Health. Mulago Hospital gets the biggest portion of free ARVs from PEPFAR.
During a video conference at the American centre in Lusaka, Zambia, Jimmy Kolker, the deputy US Global AIDS coordinator and former ambassador to Uganda, said PEPFAR may change shape but the funding will continue. “There is no feeling here that this is just a five-year programme,†he said. “There is no question that this kind of funding will stop. We are not walking away from the people who are on this programme. We have a commitment to make sure that people who get life-saving treatment such as ARVs will continue with that course of treatment.â€
Kolker was teleconferencing with 36 journalists from 14 countries at the six-day International Workshop on HIV/AIDS reporting in Lusaka recently.
The theme of the conference was “Editorial Leadership in HIV/AIDS Reporting: Changing Hearts, Minds and Behaviours.â€
The countries which participated were: Uganda, Zambia, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Guyana, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa and Vietnam.
The objective was to create and enhance journalists’ understanding of HIV/AIDS issues and stimulate correct, consistent and in-depth informed reporting.