By Woubishet Sisay Gessesse – The United States of America announced the approval of the $112 million (over 6 billion Birr) to Ethiopia’s Country Operational Plan 2023 (COP23) through the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program.
The money is provided to support Ethiopia’s continued response to end HIV/AIDS in 2030, according to Ambassador Tracey Jacobson, Charge’ d’Affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa who attended the virtual event. 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 Dr. John Nkengasong ensures 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 is stated that in a series of consultative meetings in Ethiopia and South Africa, the PEPFAR team, along with the Ministry of Health led by Dr. Lia Tadesse, and Ethiopia civil society organizations worked together to ensure that COP23 programming restores services to areas impacted by conflict. As a result it sustains the HIV program country-wide to achieve the 95-95-95 goals (95% of people know their status; 95% of HIV+ 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 15 years old, PEPFAR and the Ministry of Health of Ethiopia hope to close the gaps in HIV services and to end HIV as a public health threat in Ethiopia.
Over the past 20 years, PEPFAR has invested nearly $3 billion (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.