Caribbean and Latin American countries are set to benefit from a healthcare agreement between the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) to eliminate HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), viral hepatitis, mpox and other sexually transmitted infections such as syphilis in the region.

The agreement was signed on Monday (May 1) by PAHO’s Director, Dr Jarbas Barbosa and AHF President Michael Weinstein.

“This agreement will strengthen collaboration between our organizations,” said Dr. Barbosa.

The agreement aims to strengthen advocacy actions to implement WHO recommendations to improve prevention programs, quality of care and treatment outcomes by expanding and directly involving LGBTQ+ communities in the implementation of innovations such as self-administered testing and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV.

PAHO provides technical cooperation to countries in the Americas to support the elimination of communicable diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, viral hepatitis, and sexually transmitted infections.

The PAHO elimination intiative seeks to end some 30 diseases and related conditions by 2030, including those covered by the PAHO/AHF agreement.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation is a global nonprofit organization providing cutting-edge medicine and advocacy to over 1.7 million people in more than 45 countries around the world, including Latin America and the Caribbean.

Founded in 1987, it is currently the largest provider of HIV/AIDS medical care in the world.