USAID Provides $81M to Caribbean Community To Fight HIV/AIDS, Assist Development

The U.S. Agency for International Development and the 15-country Caribbean Community on Wednesday formalized a five-year, $81 million USAID grant for HIV/AIDS treatment and care and development assistance, the Barbados Advocate reports (Barbados Advocate, 11/11). CARICOM will begin receiving the funds in January, and $18.5 million of the grant will go toward fighting HIV/AIDS, according to AFP/Yahoo! News (AFP/Yahoo! News, 11/10). The HIV/AIDS funding will help support CARICOM's regional efforts under the Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS to expand access to treatment and care and improve national and regional monitoring of the epidemic and prevention efforts aimed at those deemed most at risk of HIV infection, according to the Advocate (Barbados Advocate, 11/10). Karen Turner, director of USAID in the Caribbean, said that the HIV/AIDS assistance funding will come from the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (Associated Press, 11/10). PEPFAR is a five-year, $15 billion program that directs funding to 15 focus countries, including Botswana, Ethiopia, Cote d'Ivoire, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Haiti, Guyana and Vietnam (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 10/29).