U.S. Global AIDS Investments In Rwanda Have ‘Profound Impact’

“Last Friday, I was privileged to join six U.S. senators in seeing the truly profound impact of U.S. global AIDS investments in Rwanda,” Ambassador Eric Goosby, head of the U.S. State Department’s Office of Global Health Diplomacy and the U.S. global AIDS coordinator, writes in the Huffington Post’s “The Big Push” blog. He notes Mark Dybul, executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and Rwandan Minister of Health Agnes Binagwaho also attended. Goosby recounts the stories of two HIV-positive individuals that he spoke with at the Kicukiro Health Centre in Kigali and states, “These individual stories are deeply inspiring; they give us hope. And, thankfully, they are no longer the exception.”

“A decade ago, only 400 Rwandans had access to lifesaving [antiretroviral therapy (ART)],” Goosby notes. “Today, because of PEPFAR, the Global Fund, and, most importantly, the extraordinary leadership of the Rwandan government and the Rwandan people — the picture has changed dramatically,” he continues and provides statistics. “As we move forward, both the challenge and the opportunity before us in Rwanda — as in much of sub-Saharan Africa — is to consolidate these unprecedented gains, to reach those who have not yet received services, and to chart a course toward sustainability,” he writes, adding, “This requires a shared responsibility and continued collaboration among all partners — principally, the Government of Rwanda, the Rwandan people, PEPFAR, and the Global Fund” (8/26).

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