Press Releases

News & Events › Press Releases › 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:
Nizova, Natalia
Ukraine PMTCT Project Director
AIHA Ukraine
Tel. 380-48-776-0060
natalia@aiha.kiev.ua

Event Will Showcase Achievements of USAID-supported Capacity Building Efforts in Target Oblasts, Serve as Forum to Discuss Future Action

Kyiv, Ukraine, and Washington, DC, May 10, 2007—With support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the American International Health Alliance (AIHA) will hold a Final Project Conference Tuesday, May 15, 2007 at the Hotel Slavutych Conference Center, 1, Entuziastiv St, Kyiv, to share results of a 30-month project to reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Ukraine and improve access to high-quality care for women and children infected with, or affected by, HIV/AIDS. All media representatives are invited to attend this event, which will begin at 9:00 a.m.

Dr. Nadiya Zhylka, Head of the Mother and Child Health Department at the Ukrainian Ministry of Health, and Dr. Alla Scherbinskaya, Director of Ukraine’s National AIDS Center, will speak at this event and representatives from project sites in Crimea, Cherkassy, Chernigiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, and Odessa oblasts will provide updates on the status of prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV services, as well as other related treatment, care, and support services available.

AIHA’s USAID-supported “Capacity Building to Prevent Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV in Ukraine Project” has been operating since February 2005. Designed to contribute to USAID’s goal of providing comprehensive PMTCT services to 90 percent of at-risk women in eight high-burden oblasts by 2008, the project has resulted in marked increases in key performance indicators, including prenatal registration of HIV-positive pregnant women, antiretroviral prophylaxis for HIV-positive mothers and their newborns, family counseling for women living with HIV, and referral to NGOs for follow up care and support at all project sites.

Created in 1992 by a consortium of major healthcare provider associations and professional medical education organizations, AIHA establishes and manages programs and twinning partnerships between health-related institutions in the United States and their counterparts in Africa, Asia, Eurasia, and the Caribbean. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), funded by the American people, provides economic and humanitarian assistance in more than 100 countries to provide a better future for all. For more information about AIHA, please visit us on the Web at www.aiha.com.

Since 1992, USAID has provided more than $1.6 billion worth of technical and humanitarian assistance supporting Ukraine’s democratic, economic, and social transition. For more information about USAID activities, please contact the USAID Development and Outreach Office at (044) 537-4600 or visit http://ukraine.usaid.gov.

« Go Back