AIDS Relief, an international consortium funded by the U.S President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPEFAR) yesterday transitioned its activities of HIV care and treatment to the Ministry of Health (MoH).

The consortium which is led by the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) has been operating in Rwanda since 2005 to scale up quality HIV care.

It expanded Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) to about 12,000 patients who continue to treatment and taken it even to the most remote areas in the country.

With the official transition, the Ministry of Health now becomes the direct recipient of PEPFAR funds. The Ministry will maintain the existing ART sites and their patients as part of the national health system.

Speaking at the transition ceremony, the AIDSRelief Rwanda Chief of Party Leia Isanhart – Balima said that over the last several years PEPFAR has shifted focus from an external emergency response to an increasing emphasis on strengthening health systems and building sustainable response owned by each host country.

"The Rwandan partnership not only provided people living with HIV the care they needed but also strengthened the governance, management and infrastructure of hospitals to respond to the pandemic.

Speaking on behalf of the Minister of Health, Dr. Fidel Ngabo, commended the partnership.

"This partnership approach to strengthening HIV care and treatment in Rwanda is greatly appreciated by the government. We hope other development partners can use similar approaches,” he said adding that locally owned and driven programmes create sustainable development.

He promised the ministry would ensure that more patients receive the life sustaining treatment while maintaining the high quality of treatment established under the programme.

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