Zambia To Receive $115M in PEPFAR Funding in 2005, Up From Nearly $82M in 2004
The United States will grant $115 million in President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief funding to Zambia in 2005, U.S. Ambassador to Zambia Martin Brennan said on Wednesday, Xinhua News Agency reports (Xinhua News Agency, 5/11). PEPFAR is a five-year, $15 billion program that directs funding for HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria primarily to 15 focus countries and provides funding to the Global Fund To Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 5/10). Brennan said $15.5 million of the funding will go toward improving access to antiretroviral drugs, $8.2 million will be spent on training counselors and improving access to counseling and testing services, $6.5 million will be spent on preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission, and $5.7 million will go toward the care of orphans and other vulnerable children, according to Xinhua News Agency. The 2005 grant is an increase over the $81.7 million that Zambia received from PEPFAR in 2004, which was the fourth highest grant among the focus countries. "The U.S. funding will build on [the] previous year's contribution to Zambian national program accomplishments in prevention, treatment, care, systems strengthening and policy analysis and strategic information," Brennan said (Xinhua News Agency, 5/11). One in five people in Zambia is HIV-positive, and people ages 15 to 49 are the most-affected group (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 1/27).
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