USAID IMPROVES NUTRITIONAL STATUS OF ETHIOPIANS LIVING WITH AND AFFECTED BY HIV

Thursday 15 January 2015

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Ministry of Health, seven city administration/regional health bureaus (Addis Ababa, Amhara, Dire Dawa, Harari, Oromia, Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples and Tigray), and Save the Children International celebrated achievements of the Food by Prescription activity at the close-out event in improving the nutritional status of Ethiopians living with and affected by HIV. The project close-out event was held at Hilton hotel in Addis Ababa on December 19, 2014.

John Graham, Country Director of Save the Children in Ethiopia, making an opening remark at the close-out event

With USD$17.8 million from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), through USAID, Save the Children implemented the five-year activity which treated malnourished HIV patients through successful integration of nutritional assessment, counseling and support (NACS) services at HIV service delivery points in 500 health facilities across Ethiopia.

An average of 310,000 Ethiopians living with HIV (including HIV-positive pregnant and lactating women), orphans and vulnerable children have received NACS services each year. These clients include 240,000 malnourished patients treated with ready-to-use therapeutic or supplementary food. Food by Prescription also connected 11,000 food-insecure clients to a range of household economic strengthening opportunities to prevent the relapse of malnutrition. The activity trained 11,200 professional and para-professional health care providers and equipped 500 health facilities to deliver NACS services. With this workforce in place, the activity handed over 419, or nearly 90 percent, of the 500 health facilities delivering nutrition services to the regional health bureaus.

Speaking at the project close-out event, USAID Ethiopia representative Jeanne Rideout said, “The American Government established the theme of ‘Focus, Partner and Achieve for an AIDS-free Generation’ as part of the World AIDS Day campaign. The design and implementation of Food by Prescription reflects this theme…to focus on the nutritional needs of Ethiopians living with and affected by HIV…and ensure that they have a better quality of life as productive citizens by slowing HIV-related disease progression and enabling them to attend school or go to work.”

Ms. Jeanne Rideou, USAID Ethiopia Representative, delivering a key note speech

Save the Children Country Director John Graham said, “The activity was implemented within the existing care and support services without creating any parallel structure and has designed a well-thought-out exit strategy to ensure sustainability and maintain quality NACS services after project close-out.”

USAID remains committed to addressing the nutritional needs of people living with and affected by HIV through technical assistance to the Ethiopian Government, civil society and private sector. Such assistance will focus on the production and distribution of ready-to-use therapeutic and supplementary food, implementation of NACS in the emerging regions, and linkages to household economic strengthening activities.

Dr. Abdulaziz Ali, Food by Prescription Chief of Party, presenting an over view of the project Exhibition held during the close-out event