BY STAFF REPORTER
ADDIS ABABA- The United States (U.S.) has announced the approval of the 112 million USD (over 6 billion Birr) Country Operational Plan 2023 (COP23) through the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program to support Ethiopia’s continued response to end HIV/AIDS in 2030.
In a press release sent to The Ethiopian Herald, Ambassador John Nkengasong (MD), U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and Special Representative for Health Diplomacy, announced the approval of the 112 million USD (over 6 billion Birr) Country Operational Plan 2023 (COP23) on May 23, 2023.
COP23 represents the culmination of the cooperation between PEPFAR and the Ministry of Health to plan and develop programming to support the needs of people living with HIV in Ethiopia.
The approval of COP23 by Ambassador John Nkengasong(MD) is said to ensure a continuation of the PEPFAR programming, conducted in Ethiopia in close partnership with the Ministry of Health, which will ensure Ethiopia is on track to achieve the goal of epidemic control by 2030, it was stated.
In a series of consultative meetings in Ethiopia and South Africa, the PEPFAR team, along with the Ministry of Health led by Lia Tadesse(MD), and Ethiopia civil society organizations worked together to ensure that COP23 programming restores services to areas impacted by conflict and sustains the HIV program country-wide to achieve the 95- 95-95 goals (95% of people know their status; 95% of HIV positive people are on treatment; and 95% of those on treatment are virally suppressed) and to reach epidemic control by 2025.
With a focus on improving care and treatment for Ethiopians under the age of 15 years, PEPFAR and the Ministry of Health hope to close the gaps in HIV services and to end HIV as a public health threat in Ethiopia, Ambassador Tracey Jacobson, Charge’ d’Affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa, attended the virtual event.
Over the past 20 years, PEPFAR has invested nearly three billion USD (Over 162 billion Birr) to support the HIV/AIDS response in Ethiopia.
PEPFAR investments helped to strengthen the health system through workforce development, improving infrastructure to support HIV services, and supporting the establishment of referral laboratories and a national health information system throughout the country to address HIV, the press statement indicated.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD FRIDAY 9 JUNE 2023
