Back to Index

U.S. expands assistance for grassroots HIV/AIDS groups
US Embassy
November 04, 2010

U.S. Ambassador Charles Ray last week unveiled a new U.S President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) Small Grants Program to support care and support projects for people infected and affected by HIV in Zimbabwe.

"I am excited to share this news with you here today and hope that your project, and the many others like it, will prove to be enduring proof of America's commitment to a strong, healthy and prosperous Zimbabwe," said Ambassador Charles Ray when he handed over two diesel powered grinding mills to Marozva Community Based Organization, also known as the People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWADS), in Masvingo's Bikita West constituency on October 28th.

PLWADS received funding from the U.S. Ambassador's Special Self-Help Program and the African Development Foundation to purchase two grinding mills located at and near Sosera business center.

During the unveiling of the grinding mills, Ambassador Ray announced the new small grants scheme specifically for HIV/AIDS groups. Funded by the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the small grants scheme is the most recent new program to come from the $57.5 million U.S. commitment to Zimbabwe in 2011. This is a 20 percent increase over the 2010 PEPFAR budget for Zimbabwe. The PEPFAR small grants program will fund approximately 10 grants of up to $10,000 for community groups working with HIV/AIDS to improve their operations in practical ways.

"The United States remains fully committed and engaged with Zimbabwe in the fight against HIV/AIDS through PEPFAR, including through significant support for the Government of Zimbabwe's scale up of antiretroviral treatment. In 2010, the number of people receiving ARVs with direct PEPFAR funding increased to 59,000, up from 40,000 in 2009," said the U.S. Ambassador.

Zimbabwe is one of the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa that has been worst affected by the HIV and AIDS epidemic with a projected population of 12 million people infected with the disease. The estimated HIV prevalence among adults 15 years and above was 14.3% according to the National HIV Estimates of 2010.

Over 200 people attended the handover ceremony in Bikita West, including parliamentarians, traditional leaders, district council officials and various HIV and AIDS groups in the province.

Heya Shoko, representative of Bikita West in Parliament, hailed U.S. support and the initiative by PLWHADS. He noted that PLWHADS helps ensure targeted interventions on HIV and AIDS and will boost household food security in the constituency.

"The government of Zimbabwe, NGOs and international community recognize that approaching HIV initiatives collectively results in significant gains for people living with HIV and AIDS," said the legislator. He added that the "PLWHADS project will go a long way in fighting stigma and is a catalyst in unifying people since HIV has no boundary, it's universal and does not discriminate on the basis of political, religious and other allegiances."

Coordinator of the Sosera PLWADS Stanley Chabvepi said the grinding mills would enable PLWADS to generate income, as well as reduce discrimination due to stigma.

"The entire community here at Marozva will benefit from the Ambassador's Self Help Fund, and people living with HIV and AIDS will access grinding mill services at affordable prices. People who are tested and confirmed HIV positive will have their grain ground at half the commercial price," said Chabvepi. He said they hoped more people would go and get tested as a result of this scheme.

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP