Alliance signs €55 million agreement with Global Fund for continuation of Ukrainian HIV/AIDS programme

29 September 2005

The Alliance and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria have signed a new three-year, €55 million agreement, which will continue the Alliance’s role as Principal Recipient of the Global Fund’s HIV/AIDS grant in Ukraine. The Alliance was appointed temporary Principal Recipient of the Global Fund’s grant to Ukraine in 2004 after the Global Fund made the decision to suspend its grant due to reservations over management of the programme in January 2004.

The agreement will build on the substantial achievements of the past 18 months. Alvaro Bermejo, executive director of the Alliance said:

“The past year has already seen a big expansion in the number of people receiving life-saving anti-retroviral treatment, from 137 patients up to around 2,500 individuals through activities supported by the Global Fund. This is a testament to the active participation of hundreds of supporting and implementing organisations, and new partnerships between the government, NGOs and local networks.

“The new agreement is a great opportunity to continue strengthening and expanding these efforts to overcome the epidemic. As well as focused HIV prevention work with vulnerable communities, the programme will further expand the number of people receiving anti-retroviral treatment to 6,000 by October 2008. The new agreement is a strong vindication of the work of all those involved in the programme so far in Ukraine.”

Andriy Klepikov, director of the Alliance Ukraine, highlighted:

“The design of the second phase of Global Fund activities in Ukraine has been led by representatives of Ukraine’s new government and we are working closely with the Ukrainian National Coordination Council on the Prevention of the Spread of HIV/AIDS. The plan is to transfer management of certain programme activities to the Ukrainian government during 2006. In its second phase, the programme will cover four key areas:

  • scaling up access to and quality of anti-retroviral treatment;
  • strengthening and expanding prevention services, particularly among groups at the centre of the epidemic;
  • developing better care and support services for affected people and communities; and
  • improving the monitoring and evaluation of the epidemic’s spread and the response to it.

Successful partnerships with other stakeholders including the Ukrainian government, implementing organisations, and local networks of those affected will be key to achieving the goals of this agreement, which is the most significant part of Ukraine’s national response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.