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The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief - August 2006 Newsletter
Russia: Russian Twinning Partnership Builds Capacity [more]
Russian Twinning Partnership Builds Capacity PEPFAR works to strengthen human and organizational capacity by creating twinning relationships between similar organizations. These relationships facilitate skills transfer and can rapidly expand the pool of trained providers, managers and allied health staff delivering quality HIV/AIDS services. Twinning partnerships are typically formed between a U.S. partner and a country partner, but eligible participants may be U.S.-based, regional or local. Eligible participants include: government agencies; schools of medicine, nursing, public health, management and public administration; health sciences centers; community- and faith-based organizations; and third party country government organizations with cultural or linguistic ties to host nations. In Russia, the Emergency Plan-supported twinning partnership pairs new Russian HIV/AIDS case managers with experienced case managers from Minnesota and New York. Russian case managers attend courses where they learn about case management from their American counterparts. In the Saratov Oblast city of Engels, this peer-to-peer collaboration laid the groundwork for improved care and support services for people living with HIV/AIDS. Mikhail Afanasyev, the head of Engels' Healthcare Department, worked closely with local health care professionals to implement the improved case management system. They link clients with antiretroviral and tuberculosis treatment, counseling for discordant couples, and employment and legal services. They also provide assistance with disability pension applications. The new case management system has significantly improved services for people living with HIV/AIDS in Engels and throughout Russia. HIV Counseling and Testing as an Avenue for Hope Although HIV prevention, treatment and care services are available, a person unaware of his or her serostatus will not access life-saving antiretroviral treatment, care that can prevent opportunistic infections, and may not take all possible prevention steps to avoid spreading infection. Counseling and testing are key gateways to prevention, care and treatment. In Zambia, the Emergency Plan is supporting the Kara Counseling Center in Lusaka. The center provides HIV counseling and testing, as well as treatment-related care for people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. One beneficiary of services at the Kara Counseling Center is Joseph Mwamba. Joseph turned to the center for HIV counseling and testing services for his family. Worried that the constant illnesses of his daughter and her three-year-old son were signs of HIV infection, Joseph wanted the two to be tested for HIV, but feared that his daughter would not agree. To set an example, Joseph decided to be tested. "My daughter fell critically ill in 2004 and I was advised to take her to Kara Counseling for an HIV test. ... I thought it [would] be better if I started with myself, so that I would be in a better position to advise her," Joseph explained. Joseph received the results of his test and learned that he was HIV-positive. Although discouraged by the test results, Joseph was determined to live positively with HIV. Through counseling, he knew that antiretroviral treatment represented promise for the future. Encouraged by her father, Joseph's daughter and grandson went to the center to get tested and discovered they were both HIV-positive. Unfortunately, action came too late for Joseph's daughter, who died before she could start treatment. However, Joseph and his grandson were able to access life-saving antiretroviral treatment. The hope for the pair's future was reborn. Estimated Number of Adults and Children living with HIV, 2005: 1,100,000 Estimated Adult (15-49) HIV Prevalence Rate, 2005: 17.0% Estimated AIDS Deaths in Adults and Children, 2005: 98,000 (Source: UNAIDS, Report on the First Lady Laura Bush Visits Russian HIV/AIDS Center Mrs. Bush discussed the unprecedented public- private partnership formed through the Emergency Plan last March to promote scientific and technical discussions on solutions for pediatric HIV treatment, to maximize the utility of currently available pediatric formulations, and to accelerate children's access to treatment. A new project supports orphans and vulnerable children in rural Cambodia The "Caring and Protecting Orphans and Vulnerable Children Project" will help families, communities and governments care for children living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. Jonathan Ross, USAID's Acting Director of the Office of Public Health, pictured here with children from the Battambang Province, attended the project's launch on July 19, 2006. He said: "The orphaned children of today are part of Cambodia's future - we need to ensure they grow up to become productive citizens in Cambodia's development." "Voices of Hope" Depicts PEPFAR Partnerships Over 100 representatives from governmental, non-governmental and private sector organizations attended the premiere. Ambassadors to the United States from Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania and Vietnam, as well as roughly 20 other members of the diplomatic corps from PEPFAR partner nations were in attendance. Distinguished guests from the United States included Tim Goeglein, Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the Office of Public Liaison; Dina Powell, Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Culture Affairs; and Ambassador Carmen M. Martinez, U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Zambia. At the premiere, Ambassador Mark R. Dybul and Assistant Secretary Dina Powell delivered remarks. Ambassador Dybul told attendees: "The Emergency Plan was the first quantum leap in commitment by the American people in HIV/AIDS to support the fight against HIV/AIDS. The American people will stand with the people of the world in this fight, until the fight is won." Powell stressed the importance of the Emergency Plan's efforts to unite a variety of organizations in the fight against HIV/AIDS. She highlighted the importance of "Voices of Hope" as a public diplomacy tool. Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator | | | ||||||||||||||||||
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In Russia, the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (Emergency Plan/PEPFAR) is supporting efforts to improve the quality and scope of health care and related services available to people living with HIV/AIDS through a twinning partnership between Russia and the United States.
The U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (Emergency Plan/PEPFAR) and its host country partners have led the way in supporting the expansion of access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care in the developing world. Yet one of the key limiting factors is people's lack of knowledge of their HIV status.
In Cambodia, the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR / Emergency Plan) supports a new project for orphans and vulnerable children.
On Wednesday, August 9, 2006, "Voices of Hope" premiered at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C. "Voices of Hope" is a 30-minute documentary depicting the impact of partnerships between the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR/Emergency Plan) and host nation partners in the fight against global HIV/AIDS.