SUNRISE strengthens USAID support to the Ukrainian HIV/AIDS response
09 September 2004
On 9 September 2004, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the International HIV/AIDS Alliance held a joint press conference in Kiev, Ukraine, to mark the launch of a new project, Scaling up the National Response to HIV/AIDS through Information and Services (SUNRISE), a new USAID project to enhance prevention efforts directed at communities most vulnerable to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
SUNRISE will be implemented by the International HIV/AIDS Alliance in a consortium with the All-Ukrainian Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS and Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH).
The press conference was addressed by Christopher D. Crowley, USAID Mission Director and Andriy Pidaev, Minister of Health of Ukraine, along with Andriy Klepikov, Director of the International HIV/AIDS Alliance in Ukraine, Volodymyr Zhovtyak, Chairman of the All-Ukrainian PLHA Network, and Kateryna Gamazina, PATH Ukraine, Deputy Country Manager for Programs.
Andriy Klepikov, Executive Director, International HIV/AIDS Alliance in the Ukraine, said: “This is great news for the Ukrainian response to HIV/AIDS. New funding will be complementary to the recent substantial allocation of resources by the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and will allow for substantial scale-up of prevention efforts directed at communities most vulnerable to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.”
The $8.2 million SUNRISE Project is the first initiative within the newly developed USAID HIV/AIDS strategy for Ukraine and constitutes a substantial increase in resources directed to support the Ukrainian response to the growing HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Apart from the focused prevention component, the project also includes activities:
- to increase the accessibility of care and support to people living with HIV/AIDS and those affected by the epidemic
- to strengthen synergies between prevention and care services with particular emphasis on further development of voluntary counselling and testing
- to boost the ability of local institutions to deliver vital prevention and care programmes.
As a leading implementing agency of the Ukrainian Global Fund project, the Alliance has a unique position in coordinating two of the largest Ukrainian HIV/AIDS projects. The Alliance and its partners are committed to transparent and collaborative working, and helping to build a comprehensive national effort to prevent further spread of the disease and to alleviate the burden of the epidemic.
