TO mark the 20th anniversary of the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the American Embassy in Guyana will hold a number of events.

The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Caribbean Regional Office Director Dr. Emily Kainne Dokubo will join U.S. Ambassador to Guyana, Sarah-Ann Lynch and Guyana’s Ministry of Health (MoH) officials to conduct site visits at key government and private health facilities supported by CDC/PEPFAR and participate in speaking engagements.

According to the US Embassy, President George W. Bush launched the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief on January 28, 2003, with the vision to create a response to a burgeoning global epidemic of HIV.

From the time of its inception to present, the U.S. government through PEPFAR has invested over $100 billion in the global HIV/AIDS response, the largest commitment by any nation to address a single disease in history, saving 25 million lives, preventing millions of HIV infections, and accelerating progress toward controlling the global HIV/AIDS pandemic in more than 50 countries.

Since 2004, PEPFAR has provided Guyana with over GY$37,800,000,000 for HIV prevention, care, treatment, and laboratory services, including approximately GY$14,000,000,00 through CDC to fund construction of the National Public Health Reference Laboratory in 2008 along with increased HIV testing capacity, and staff engagement.

Improvement of data management systems for MoH and provision of data protection and storage was also supported. CDC has also provided Guyana with over $95,000,000 Guyanese dollars to enhance capacity to respond to COVID-19 and other health threats.

“The United States is committed to supporting Guyana to strengthen its health systems and improve health outcomes. Through PEPFAR, CDC is working in partnership with the Ministry of Health to achieve HIV epidemic control in Guyana and the Caribbean region,” the US Embassy noted.