Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation and USAID Partner to Strengthen TB and HIV/AIDS Awareness
July 29, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts: Evan Von Leer, 202-448-8433, evonleer@pedaids.org
Eric Kilongi, EGPAF Kenya, 254-735-702-701, ekilongi@pedaids.org
$38 Million Program Will Provide Nine Districts With Essential Health Services
July 29, 2010, Washington, D.C. – The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation is pleased to announce its continued partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Ministry of Health in Uganda with the award of a five-year $38 million USAID cooperative agreement to provide integrated tuberculosis (TB) and HIV/AIDS services in the south west region of the country.
The program, known as Strengthening TB and HIV/AIDS Response (STAR-SW), which is currently underway, will cover nine districts where there is considerable unmet need and low coverage for these services. It will build on the Foundation’s work supporting health service delivery at the district level, with the goal of increasing use of, access to, and coverage of high-quality, comprehensive TB, HIV/AIDS, and nutrition services in this region.
This five-year award also builds upon the Foundation and USAIDS’s joint results in Uganda to date, including reaching more than 2 million women with services for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
“The Ugandan Ministry of Health and USAID continue to be important strategic partners for the Foundation,” said Charles Lyons, president and CEO of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. “This award will enable us to continue working collaboratively with these and other key partners to reach far greater numbers of women, children, and families in need,”
This initiative will serve as the final link in USAID’s national efforts, and represents an important step in strengthening Uganda’s decentralization of comprehensive, district-based HIV/AIDS and TB programs. The nine districts covered by the agreement are: Ntungamo, Kiruhura, Kisoro, Rukungiri, Bushenyi, Kanungu, Isingiro, Ibanda, and Kabale, all in the south west region of Uganda.
“Our approach will strategically focus on the family, using cross-cutting interventions to strengthen the overall health system and support the Ugandan Ministry of Health in continuously improving the quality of services,” said Edward Bitarakwate, Country Director in Uganda for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. “We will also work with other partners to build strong linkages and referral networks to ensure that there is a continuity of services between health facilities and the community.”
The Foundation will draw on its team of experienced partners, including the Mulago-Mbarara Teaching Hospitals’ Joint AIDS Program, JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc., Uganda Health Marketing Group, and Mayanja Memorial Hospital Foundation, to plan and implement this life-saving program.
For more information on the Foundation’s work in Uganda, please visit http://www.pedaids.org/What-We-re-Doing/Where-We-Are-Working/Uganda.
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About the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation:
The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation is a global leader in the fight against pediatric HIV and AIDS, working in 17 countries to implement prevention, care, and treatment; to further advance innovative research; and to execute strategic and targeted global advocacy activities to bring dramatic change to the lives of millions of women, children, and families worldwide.
