Africa-Press – Namibia. THE US government plans to increase its contribution towards Namibia’s fight against AIDS in 2022 by US$1.4 million through the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
The increase from US$89 million to US$90.4 million will intensify the country’s efforts to reach epidemic control of the HIV. This was revealed by United Nations Ambassador to Namibia, Jessica Long, during her courtesy visit to President Hage Geingob at State House on Thursday.
Funding for 2022 will also support the Ministry of Health and Social Services to set up an SMS reminder service to send messages to ART patients when they need to collect their medicine.
PEPFAR aims at providing comprehensive support to over 37,000 orphans and vulnerable children and adolescents in 18 districts. PEPFAR will also continue its support for girls to stay HIV-free through the DREAMS program, which works with over 80,000 adolescent girls and young women in nine districts.
She indicated that there is a deep connection between Namibia and the US when it comes to health, hence the increase of the contribution to PEPFAR activities.
On the part of Covid-19, Long stated that the US government had already donated over 100,000 Pfizer vaccines to Namibia, with 125,000 consignments of Pfizer expected to be donated to Namibia on Friday.
Long further stated that they intend to find solutions on how Namibian products can penetrate the American market. Long indicated that the two countries are working on a project scaling up the development of clean energy like mega solar partnerships that will benefit climate change.
Long also indicated that the mega solar project is one of the exciting projects for both Namibia, the US and Botswana. “This project could be the biggest solar project in the world and that means Namibia would not only be able to supply domestic energy needs, but they could become exporters to other parts of Southern Africa,” she said.
Long concluded that with such a huge project, it would create jobs, combat climate change and create more energy security which brings more business opportunities.
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