Remarks for Ambassador William W. Popp at the High-Level Ministerial on Triple Elimination of HIV, Syphilis and Hepatitis B in Africa

Remarks for Ambassador William W. Popp to High-Level Ministerial on Triple Elimination of HIV, Syphilis and Hepatitis B in Africa

• Your Excellency, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, President of the Republic of Uganda
• Chairperson of the African Union Commission, H.E. Mahamoud Ali Youssouf
• Director General of Africa CDC, H.E. Dr. Jean Kaseya
• Regional Director, World Health Organization, Professor Mohamed Yakub Janabi
• Minister of Health, Hon. Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng
• Exec Director, National Organization for People Living with Hepatitis B, Kenneth Kabagambe
• Other Health Development Partners current
• S. authorities colleagues right here current,
• Ladies and Gentlemen, all protocols noticed.

Good morning.  It is an honor be part of you for the opening ceremony of this high-level ministerial convention on Triple Elimination of HIV, Syphilis and Hepatitis B in Africa—the first of its sort on the continent.  I wish to acknowledge all the companions current for organizing this convention to evaluation progress on eliminating these three preventable ailments.

The theme, “Unifying Actions, Transforming Futures: Achieving Triple Elimination in Africa by 2030,” is well timed.  The co-infection of HIV, Syphilis and Hepatitis B virus (HBV) presents a big and interconnected public well being problem that calls for a united entrance. Africa faces a serious burden of these three infections, which may be transmitted in related methods, significantly from mom to child throughout being pregnant, childbirth, and breastfeeding (in the case of HIV)—placing infants at severe threat of illness, incapacity and loss of life earlier than, throughout and after delivery.  The excellent news is that this route of transmission is preventable, as demonstrated by our progress towards eliminating mom to child transmission of HIV —an initiative the United States has proudly championed for over 20 years.

The U.S. authorities acknowledges that international well being is a key element to security, safety, and prosperity.  As such, we now have partnered with governments worldwide to strengthen nations’ well being capability and self-reliance.  Through the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the United States has dramatically contributed to international progress in ending HIV as a public well being risk. Over the final 22 years PEPFAR has saved over 25 million lives. Here in Uganda, PEPFAR helps over 1.4 million folks with HIV therapy.  This not solely saves lives and permits folks dwelling with HIV to guide wholesome, productive lives, but in addition performs a vital position in stopping HIV transmission.  Through investments to enhance maternal and child well being, PEPFAR has helped greater than 2.8 million infants worldwide, together with over 200,000 in Uganda, to be born HIV-free, a milestone towards an HIV-free technology.

Uganda was one of the first nations to implement the PEPFAR program, and the outcomes have been transformative.  The first PEPFAR consumer in the world is a Ugandan man, now aged 55 years, is wholesome and stays on PEPFAR-supported HIV therapy greater than 20 years later.  Additionally, mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Uganda has seen a lower of greater than 80 p.c, falling from 7.5 p.c of infants born to HIV-positive moms in 2014 to 1.3 p.c in 2024, by our greater than $260 million in assist to Uganda’s National Program for Elimination of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV.

Today, this continental initiative goals to construct on these successes and improve maternal and child well being companies to additionally remove the transmission of different ailments like Syphilis and Hepatitis B.  We welcome the Triple Elimination initiative’s calls on stakeholders to coordinate assist to make sure the environment friendly use of restricted assets to enhance well being outcomes for moms and youngsters—and the common inhabitants affected by these ailments.

In accordance with President Trump’s Executive Order 14169 the United States has carried out a detailed evaluation and realignment of all our help applications. While Secretary Rubio granted a waiver in February for PEPFAR to proceed as a life-saving program, he has additionally stated that PEPFAR, like all overseas help applications, ought to be decreased as they obtain their mission and nations assume larger self-reliance.  We want platforms like this convention to debate progressive methods, coverage frameworks, community-driven options, and nation commitments to guide applications which have efficiently improved the well being of residents throughout the continent and globe.  Today is a vital alternative to leverage our a long time of PEPFAR well being investments and successes, particularly in eMTCT, to attain the triple elimination aim.

The United States’ welcomes African Union states’ endorsement of the Africa Elimination of Vertical Transmission of HIV, Syphilis, and HBV Plan by 2030 in addition to the Keeping their Mothers Alive (AEVT) Plan, which will likely be launched throughout this convention.  We hope these plans will translate into political management and funding commitments by governments as we try for nation well being applications that nations can maintain over time.

Likewise, the sturdy agenda for the convention consists of important discussions on leveraging political commitments, fostering progressive approaches and sharing greatest practices, and mobilizing assets by progressive financing mechanisms and public-private partnerships, in addition to international funding commitments.  One instant alternative lies in using current well being system investments, together with infrastructure established by PEPFAR, to combine HIV, Hepatitis B, and Syphilis management applications inside maternal child well being applications.  This integration can maximize our investments and improve the effectiveness of our well being techniques.  Careful consideration to those subjects are important to the success of our shared triple elimination aims.

In closing, the United States shares the imaginative and prescient in which each and every child has a chance to start out a wholesome life, free from these three preventable, communicable, and treatable ailments.  We firmly consider that that is an achievable goal—one that’s properly inside our attain.  I want you fruitful deliberations.  Thank you.