ViiV Healthcare Funds 34 Orgs to End Mother-to-Child Transmission

ViiV Healthcare through its Positive Action for Children Fund (PACF), announces the 34 new community-based organizations from 16 countries that will receive funding in 2015/16 to support local responses to help eliminate mother to child transmission (eMTCT) of HIV in affected communities across Sub-Saharan Africa.

The news was highlighted at the PACF Summit, which coincides with the 18th International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA), as the company issued a new call for proposals to support the continued delivery of crucial services to improve the wellbeing of women and children affected by HIV.

"For the past five years, our Positive Action for Children Fund has supported projects that drive real change for women and children in communities most affected by HIV," said Dr. Dominique Limet, CEO of ViiV Healthcare. "Since ViiV Healthcare was first established, we have taken a meaningful approach to partnering with grass-roots organizations to deliver interventions that have made a difference to communities where the need is greatest."

Since 2009, PACF has partnered with local organizations working to improve the health and wellbeing of women and children affected by HIV and the communities in which they live by strengthening ties between these communities, local health systems and governments. Following the launch of PACF, the program has evolved significantly to enable more families to have access to information, prevention measures, testing and care for HIV.

Through our partners, the PACF program has reached around 1.6 million people in communities most affected by HIV directly, delivering results on the ground as reported by our grantees over the past five years. These include enabling nearly 250,000 women to be tested for HIV, thus identifying nearly 24,500 infected with the virus. Importantly, the work of our partner organizations has led to more than 135,000 babies born from mothers who are infected with HIV, were delivered in facilities that can provide the most appropriate support and care for both mother and child.

During the conference taking place this week in Harare, more than 80 PACF network and grantee organizations will meet to share their successes and learnings with their peers and to further progress community interventions related to eMTCT. These include promoting women and girls' access to education and health services, testing infants early for HIV and improving retention of mothers in local HIV services.

Call for Proposals

In addition, PACF announced a new call for proposals seeking community partnerships that are aligned with eMTCT. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) wanting to apply for a proportion of this funding must register their interest before March 30th 2016

"The PACF welcomes applications from organizations to support HIV communities where the need is greatest," said Peter McDermott, Chairman of the Board, Positive Action for Children Fund. "At the core of PACF's effort is a unique focus on grassroots change, ensuring our grantees are enabled to achieve the greatest impact possible to help end mother to child transmission of HIV."