The U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has shared a new draft strategy. PEPFAR is partnering across sectors in the development of the PEPFAR Strategy: Vision 2025.
The private sector has been and continues to be a vital stakeholder in the response to HIV/AIDS. GBCHealth encourages private sector organizations to review the draft PEPFAR strategy and submit feedback.
PEPFAR is welcoming feedback on the draft strategy up until 5:00 p.m. ET on September 30th. Version 2.0 of the draft strategy is available to review here, and you can submit feedback on the draft strategy at this link.
The private sector and Vision 2025
Vision 2025 builds on critical inputs that PEPFAR received from stakeholders through a survey as well as sector-specific virtual listening sessions that took place in August, 2021 (recordings of which are available on PEPFAR’s YouTube page).
PEPFAR noted that “The PEPFAR Strategy: Vision 2025 will be greatly informed by and closely coordinated with the Global AIDS Strategy 2021-2026, recently released by UNAIDS and adopted by countries worldwide, and the post-2022 Global Fund Strategy to optimize complementarity, value for money, and impact.”
This is a crucial time for PEPFAR to be developing a new strategy, as noted by KFF, because of the impact of COVID-19 on the HIV response, changes to the broader HIV financing landscape, the increased attention paid towards building resilient health systems and pandemic preparedness in countries due to COVID-19, and more.
The draft strategy highlights the role of the private sector in support of multiple goals. As part of PEPFAR’s goal to build resilient country health systems, the organization aims to “Institutionalize a next generation, client-centered HIV and related health care commodity supply chain that is responsive, efficient, and sustainable, including through local private sector partnerships and strengthening of partner government oversight and regulatory systems.”
As part of PEPFAR’s goal to build and strengthen collaborations for impact and sustainability, it notes that it plans to “strengthen cooperation and coordination with partner country governments, civil society…, the private sector, multilateral institutions, and people living with HIV.” Specifically, PEPFAR plans to “Capitalize on multi-national and national private sector core capacities, investments, and innovations for greater program efficiency, effectiveness, and sustained health impact.”
GBCHealth welcomes a clear role for the private sector within PEPFAR’s strategy for the next four years. You can watch PEPFAR’s listening session event with multilateral institutions, the private sector & private foundations here for further discussion of the private sector’s relationship with PEPFAR.