ISLAMABAD: The Director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Pakistan expended the $ 2.7 million Pakistan HIV and AIDS Prevention and Care Project (PHAPCP) by awarding grants to three organizations to help stop transmission among the most vulnerable segments of the population in Turbat, Peshawar and Karachi.
Over the past year the USAID-funded project has been helping local organizations to implement transmission prevention activities in Rawalpindi, Lahore, Multan, Karachi and Larkana, Jonathan Addleton said at the grants award ceremony on Monday.
“I am very happy to announce that three new sites are being added in 2007 with three new partners”, he added. With this grant, Director USAID in Pakistan said the US reaffirms its commitment to improving the health and quality of life of Pakistan People.
This is the moment to redouble our efforts to prevent the further spread of this devastating disease, he noted.
Addleton added thought Pakistan has a low prevalence of HIV/AIDS, it faces a high risk of the disease becoming more widespread.
HIV/AIDS in Pakistan has now reached the stage of being an epidemic concentrated in certain segments of the population and efforts are needed to prevent the disease from becoming widespread within the general population, he asserted.
Jonathan Addleton said that three new partners will develop strong outreach and peer education programs for eliminating or reducing risk behaviors such as injecting drugs or having unprotected sex and encouraging those most at risk to get frequent tests.
In addition to the high risk groups, Director USAID in Pakistan held that the new partners will educate out of schools boys between the ages of 13 and 24 as well as homeless children about how to avoid infection.
In Karachi and Peshawar, the project will also establish confidential testing facilities for HIV and AIDS, he maintained adding that in Turbat and Balochistan the project wil provide medical and emotional support for those already infected by HIV and AIDS.
In 2006, USAID awarded the $ 2.7 million Pakistan HIV and AIDS Prevention and Care Project to Research Triangle International (RTI) and its subcontracting partner, Family Health International (FHI) to help stop transmission of HIV/AIDS among the most vulnerable segments of the population.
Support of HIV/AIDS is part of the $ 1.5 billion in aid that the US Government is providing to Pakistan over five years to improve economic growth, education, health and Governance, he said. | 
Health
