Global Fund

The Haitian Ministry of Health and its partners have launched a new HIV/AIDS campaign focused on raising awareness, rapid testing, and treatment.  With the support of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS, TB, and Malaria and other donors, Haitians can be tested and treated for free.  Stigma and discrimination, especially against women and members of the LGBT community, remain challenges.  Courtesy of AFP, more information about the campaign follows.

Ten Countries in the Caribbean and Central America, including Haiti, have launched a regional initiative to eliminate malaria by 2020.  Both for public health and economic growth, eliminating malaria is in the interest of the entire region. This initiative is also a positive example of how very different countries can come together to address shared challenges.  The Global Fund has committed to providing $10 million in support of the initiative.  Click here to read about the Global Fund's support for HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria programming in Haiti. The full announcement follows.   

The credibility of any government is determined in large part by its capacity and willingness to provide basic services.  Health care can bring people together when there is equal access, or divide people when there is not.  Before and after the earthquake, quality health care in Haiti was/is primarily provided by non-governmental and international organizations (NGOs/IOs). The NGOs and IOs have been instrumental in keeping disease outbreaks at bay and access to health care for many residents in Port au Prince, at least for now, is better than it was before the earthquake.  While significant accomplishments, much more remains to be done before we can say that the health care system is truly being reconstructed. 

Haiti is the country most affected by HIV/AIDS in the Western Hemisphere.  That having been said, Haiti is also one of only a handfull of countries to have halted and reversed a generalized epidemic.  This is something to be proud of.  Credit mainly goes to Haitian civil society but also to national and international non-governmental organizations as well as commited government officials.  The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria have, in different ways, both helped accelerate progress.