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Guyana records success against HIV with PEPFAR

Jan 15, 2009 News

– Country received over US$105M in five years

The number of pregnant women receiving HIV counseling and testing in Guyana is the highest of the 14 other countries benefiting from the U.S President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), from which Guyana benefited from over US$105M over the past five years.
This is according to the latest PEPFAR report released by the U.S State Department Monday.
The report was released by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who pointed out that during its first five years, from 2003 to 2008, the Plan exceeded its goals of supporting treatment for 2 million HIV-infected people, and care for 10 million people living with HIV/AIDS, including orphans and vulnerable children.
Under PEPFAR, Guyana received more than $12 million in 2004, nearly $19.4 million in 2005, more than $21.7 million in 2006, and $28.4 million in 2007 to support comprehensive HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care programmes. For 2008, PEPFAR allocated $23.8 million.
According to the latest report, 87 percent of pregnant women in Guyana were receiving HIV counseling and testing, the highest percentage of the other countries. In 2003, when PEPFAR started, 32 percent of women were receiving counseling and testing.
The report said that 38 infant infections were averted in the year. The number of infant infections averted was calculated by multiplying the total number of HIV-positive pregnant women who received ARV prophylaxis (upstream and downstream).
The number of individuals reached with community outreach HIV/AIDS prevention activities that promote abstinence and/or being faithful was 61,700, while the number of individuals reached with community outreach HIV/AIDS prevention activities that promote correct and consistent use of condoms and related interventions was stated as 39, 600.
Over two million condoms were shipped to Guyana in 2008, the report stated. An estimated 4, 300 HIV-infected individuals received care and support.
Guyana reported fewer people receiving prevention messages in 2008 compared to 2007. This drop was due to data quality support to partners over the course of the fiscal year that reduced the risk of double-counting of individuals served.
The programme’s 2008 annual report to Congress, entitled “Celebrating Life,” details PEPFAR’s successes and the breaking of new ground in becoming the first large-scale effort to tackle a chronic disease in the developing world.” In 2003, when President George W. Bush announced PEPFAR, many still doubted whether HIV prevention, care and treatment services could ever be provided in a resource-limited setting, where HIV/AIDS was a death sentence,” Rice said in releasing the report.
“Just five years later,” she added, “thanks to strong partnerships between the American people and the people of host nations around the world, we’ve seen what was once thought to be impossible become truly possible.”
With an original commitment of $15 billion over five years and a final funding level of $18.8 billion, PEPFAR is the largest international health initiative in history dedicated to a single disease and the world’s largest development initiative.
In 2008, Bush signed into law a document that authorizes up to $48 billion over the next five years to fight global HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
President-elect Barack Obama was one of 16 co-sponsors of the programme in the Senate and Vice President-elect Joe Biden helped move the bill through the Senate, so there is strong support for PEPFAR in the next administration.
Through 2013, PEPFAR will work in partnership with host nations to treat at least 3 million people, prevent 12 million new infections and care for 12 million people, including 5 million orphans and vulnerable children, the report says.
The programme will also support training for at least 140,000 new health care workers in HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care, according to the report.

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