The Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF)

In December 2010, EGPAF received an award from the London-based Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) to significantly scale up programs and dramatically accelerate the elimination of pediatric HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe. EGPAF is now in its third year of implementing this $45 million, five-year agreement – the third-largest grant EGPAF has received in its two-decade history. Using the revised 2010 WHO guidelines as a catalyst to improve access to critical and proven HIV-prevention methods in Zimbabwe, the partnership is expanding access to more comprehensive prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) services nationwide, and optimizing the quality and impact of PMTCT programs to ensure more children are born free of HIV and that HIV-positive mothers are kept alive. Emphasis is being placed on strengthening the capacity and commitment of the existing health system at all levels to ensure an integrated, sustainable and cost-effective approach. The partnership also aims to ensure that the lessons learned from Zimbabwe are used to implement similar programs in other high-burden countries, and to strengthen efforts to eliminate pediatric HIV/AIDS globally.