For the past two weeks, the buzz in Washington, DC and at the White House, is all about women and girls. Yesterday, to mark National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, the Administration announced a new initiative to help local communities and grassroots organizations fight HIV/AIDS and gender-based violence. U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator for the [...]
Tag archives for PEPFAR
World AIDS Day: New Advances Are Critical to Achieving the Vision of an AIDS-free Generation
Featured on Huffington Post For the first time since the AIDS virus surfaced, devastating communities and overwhelming nations, the world has the tools and knowledge to ensure an entire generation is born free from its scourge. By building on a strong legacy of progress and bipartisan support and relying on proven interventions and new breakthroughs, [...]
Reaching Most-at-Risk Populations with HIV Counseling and Testing in Brazil
Over the summer, I visited Brazil with representatives from USAID’s Caribbean Regional HIV Program. The Caribbean team was interested in learning about USAID/Brazil’s innovative HIV counseling and testing program, Quero Fazer, which is implemented by the Associação Espaço de Prevenção e Atenção Humanizada (EPAH). EPAH manages Quero Fazer, a project designed specifically to reach most-at-risk [...]
Treat the Whole Person: On Mental Health Day, USAID Recognizes the Importance of Mental Health for People Living with HIV
Submitted by: Melissa Sharer AIDSTAR-One Senior Care and Support Officer, John Snow, Inc. AIDSTAR-One is funded by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through USAID’s Office of HIV/AIDS, and provides rapid technical assistance to USAID and U.S. Government (USG) country teams to build effective, well-managed, and sustainable HIV and AIDS programs, and promotes [...]
Seeking a Sustainable Solution for HIV Funding in Kenya
In March 2011, the Kenyan National AIDS Control Council prepared a Cabinet memorandum that outlines ways to raise funds for HIV programming. Through innovative solutions, Kenya is looking for sustainable ways to combat the AIDS epidemic in country. The memo is based on a recommendation from the USAID-funded Health Systems 20/20’s HIV/AIDS Program Sustainability Tool (HAPSAT) [...]
Miriam’s Success in Changing Lives in her Community
When she was only 14 years old, Miriam was the primary caretaker of her family. Like many other girls in her situation in Guyana, Miriam turned to commercial sex work to provide for her family. As a female sex worker (FSW), Miriam put herself at risk of HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections. In Guyana (pdf, [...]
On the Road with SCMS, Part 2: In Ethiopia, capacity building helps a health center manage its supply of HIV/AIDS commodities
In this three part series, Jay Heavner, Director of Knowledge Sharing and Communication at Supply Chain Management System (SCMS), highlights his experiences visiting three countries in Africa to observe SCMS project sites. The Fital Health Center is located about 135 kilometers north of Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, in a beautiful agricultural region of small villages [...]
PEPFAR/USAID Kicks off Webinar Series to Strengthen the Social Welfare Workforce
On July 14, over 100 people from 18 countries logged on for our first ever Social Service Workforce Strengthening webinar! The webinar session entitled, “Lessons Learned from the Global Healthcare Workforce,” kicked off the first in a series of webinars intended to encourage the sharing of information, expertise and promising practices for addressing the needs [...]
Mapping for Informed Decision Making in Rwanda
Mapping and Geographic Information System (GIS) have long been used in Rwanda for sectors such as agriculture and economic growth. The need for these innovative tools and skills, however, are just now being recognized in other fields, including health. As a monitoring and evaluation expert, I have seen how useful geography and maps can be [...]
In it to Save Lives: Scaling Up Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision for HIV Prevention for Maximum Public Health Impact
Emmanuel Njeuhmeli is the Senior Biomedical Prevention Advisor in the USAID Office of HIV/AIDS. “Male circumcision can be done anywhere, and if you don’t believe me, I’ll prove it to you during this meeting.” These were my last words during my first presentation at the 2011 PEPFAR Annual Meeting in Johannesburg this past May. Needless [...]
