U.S. Law Extends Global Assistance for HIV/AIDS by Five Years

08 September 2008

(Efforts advance the HIV/AIDS Summit of the Americas mandate)

Washington — Throughout the Americas, the United States builds HIV/AIDS treatment centers and works to stop transmission of the disease to newborns and to educate young adults about prevention.

Since 2001, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has spent more than $552 million to carry out activities under the “Three Ones Initiative.” The initiative was created at the 2005 Summit of the Americas to ensure that Western Hemisphere countries have an HIV/AIDS coordination authority, a strategy to address the disease and a system to monitor its prevalence and patient treatment.

“Our ambition is greater than our capacity; our health system has not developed to the extent that it can appropriately respond to HIV/AIDS,” Guyana’s minister of health, Leslie Ramsammy, told America.gov.  The United States works to fill the gaps in the efforts by Guyana and other Western Hemisphere countries to reduce HIV/AIDS. 

The United States’ primary tool is the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).  “PEPFAR has worked with Guyana to integrate many initiatives into our national programs; if PEPFAR were to walk away, we would continue them,” Ramsammy said.

PEPFAR, which initially committed $15 billion for AIDS-related work for five years, recently was extended through 2014 with $48 billion more authorized. (See “U.S. Law Extends Global Assistance for HIV/AIDS by Five Years.”)

PEPFAR helps countries with the highest HIV infection levels, including Haiti and Guyana, where HIV/AIDS is a leading cause of death among people of working age. (These countries and 13 others collectively have half of HIV infections worldwide.)

Under PEPFAR, which is locally managed by USAID, Guyana received roughly $82 million and Haiti received $220 million from 2004 to 2007.

GUYANA

Guyana has the second-highest HIV rate in Latin America and the Caribbean, but the situation is improving. Ramsammy said Guyana went from having zero to 2,500 persons receiving anti-retroviral treatment from 2004 to 2007.  A few years ago, it had only one treatment center, and today it has 14.  The number of Guyanan clinics that work to prevent mother-to-child transmission has increased 14-fold since 2004.

Success is attributed in part to the government’s engagement with local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and the vibrant Guyanese private sector. NGOs use USAID grants for prevention, treatment and care in their communities. USAID also supports the steps that private companies take to decrease stigmatization and discrimination against those infected by promoting prevention and counseling in the workplace.

Dmitri Nicholson, from the charity Youth Challenge Guyana, said USAID money allows the organization to reach remote areas and provide more comprehensive psychological support to vulnerable children and their parents. 

Alex Presaud, 29, is a volunteer who became involved after participating in a Youth Challenge Guyana prevention program. “Doing community outreach to villages — from house to house, to people of all ages — has improved my self-esteem and allowed me to make a difference in the lives of teenagers,” he said.

Guyana Responsible Parenthood Association is another USAID-supported organization that provides HIV testing, treatment and counseling. Its director, Frederick Cox, said that, with the help of USAID, the organization teaches 40 HIV-positive individuals about hygiene, nutrition and proper medication routines. “We hope to empower them so that they may see the dawning of a new day,” he said.  

Caring for those living with HIV/AIDS is a priority for organizations such as Hope for All and Love and Faith. Through USAID grants, they have expanded services and hired paid staff, after they had previously relied on volunteers. One particularly valuable service offered is home-based care.  Staffers visit people living with HIV/AIDS to provide support and even academic help to their children. The groups also give skills classes — focusing on sewing and gardening — to help patients make a living.

Nikia (who withheld her full name), a Hope for All client, told America.gov that since joining the program, she looks at life differently because she knows help exists. The home-based-care officer takes “time to come and visit me and encourage me to live,” said Nikia.

HAITI

Because Haiti has the largest number of people living with HIV in the Americas, it is not difficult to imagine local charities being overwhelmed. But Marlene Adrien, HIV/AIDS program coordinator for the nonprofit World Concern, outside of Port-au-Prince, said USAID allows her group to reach more young people and their parents than she ever thought possible.

Adrien said “behavioral change” initiatives, which help youth avoid risky behavior that would make them vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, are particularly successful. World Concern hosted a ceremony earlier this year in which 300 young people pledged abstinence. Also this year, the group hosted drawing and acting contests to engage youth.

Claire (who withheld her real name), 15, used to skip school and practice promiscuous sexual behavior. Her stepmother, after undergoing her own AIDS awareness program, approached Bertha, an Abstinence and Being Faithful for Youth promoter, about Claire.   

Bertha learned that Claire might be seeking love outside the home because she lacked affection from her parents.  Counseling helped Claire and her parents change. Claire has committed to a new, safer lifestyle.

In the spirit of the summit’s “Three Ones Initiative,” the United States will continue to fight against HIV/AIDS to ensure the health and prosperity of Latin America’s future generations.