World AIDS Day 2017: Building Public-Private Alliances to Control the HIV Epidemic

May 25, 2018

On World AIDS Day, Abt Associates is proud to be part of efforts to contain – and eventually end – the AIDS epidemic in the U.S. and around the world.

For more than three decades, we have delivered rigorous research findings, original thinking, effective service delivery interventions, and systematic program evaluations to help accelerate a halt to the epidemic.

Abt’s work supports the humanitarian goal of enhancing the well-being of people living with HIV and AIDS and the UNAIDS 90-90-90 targets: To have 90 percent of people living with HIV know their HIV status, receive sustained antiretroviral therapy, and reach viral suppression by 2020.

Containing the AIDS epidemic and assisting people to live positively with the disease requires national HIV responses that maximize all available public and private human resources to provide testing and treatment services to everyone in need. It also requires research to guide innovations and programs to reach their maximum effectiveness.

Groundbreaking Private Sector Engagement in Zimbabwe

Under the USAID funded global AIDSFree project, Abt Associates has been working with a broad range of partners to implement Public-Private Alliance (PPA) models toward sustained epidemic control. AIDSFree is working in 12 African countries to improve the quality and effectiveness of high-impact, evidence-based HIV interventions, to meet country-specific objectives.

Abt Associates, under the AIDSFree project, helped establish an alliance of stakeholders in Zimbabwe to connect private health providers to the national HIV response who had never worked with government before. Photo credit: leoniepow/iStock — Abt Associates, under the AIDSFree project, helped establish an alliance of stakeholders in Zimbabwe to connect private health providers to the national HIV response who had never worked with government before.

Photo credit: leoniepow/iStock

In 2016-2017, Abt, as part of AIDSFree – led by John Snow Inc. – helped create an alliance of stakeholders in Zimbabwe that connected non-state private health providers to the national HIV response, many of whom had never worked with government before. This was pursued as part of the government’s strategy for the elimination of mother to child HIV transmission.

The alliance included the Zimbabwe Ministry of Health and Child Care of Zimbabwe, a broad range of National HIV and STI stakeholders, the Zimbabwe Nurses Association (ZIMA-private chapter), the Zimbabwe Medical Association (ZIMA), and our AIDSFree partners, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.

By the end of the project in November 2017, 28 private health facilities had begun delivering integrated prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) services. This marks the first time such a broad PPP for HIV has been implemented in Zimbabwe, and opens further opportunities for stronger integrated disease management involving multiple public and private health providers in Zimbabwe.

Developing, Supporting, and Evaluating HIV and AIDS Programs in the U.S.

In the U.S., Abt Associates continues to deliver research that informs effective HIV and AIDS program implementation and administration. As part of its portfolio of domestic HIV projects, Abt is working closely with the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP) to understand the evolving landscape of HIV care and treatment. The RWHAP provides a comprehensive system of care for over a half million people living with HIV who are uninsured or underinsured. Abt is leading three related RWHAP studies that are:

Assessing the effect of the changing health care coverage landscape on overall RWHAP client health outcomes, service utilization, and gaps in care;
Understanding how different RWHAP provider site models of care meet the needs of RWHAP clients; and
Determining the challenges unique to RWHAP clients with detectable viral loads.

These studies will provide the U.S government the information it needs to design future initiative to successfully combat HIV and AIDS.

Abt is also directing a national capacity building initiative across all 53 cities that lead RWHAP-funded care systems. Abt has formed a team of national partners and expert consultants to convene virtual learning collaboratives that provide training and technical assistance to support jurisdictions. Through these learning collaboratives, participating cities have created tailored, innovative approaches to improve population health along the HIV care continuum.

Read more about our international work in HIV:

Read more about our HIV work in the U.S.: