United States Ambassador to T&T Beatrice Welters presented a grant for US$8,000 to the VF Ladies Football Club on July 6, as part of the (US) President’s Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar) initiative. The Maracas, St Joseph-based club is initiating a project called, “One Pass You Don’t Need to Make”.
The club will host celebrity football matches and workshops as a platform to share information and raise awareness of the possibility of transference of HIV/Aids from the infected mother to a newborn child. They also plan to share information on the benefits of preventative drugs for infected mothers and alternatives to breastfeeding newborns.
The Pepfar is the US government’s leading initiative to help those suffering from HIV and Aids around the world. This historic commitment is the largest by any nation to combat a single disease internationally, and PEPFAR investments also help alleviate suffering from other diseases across the global health spectrum. Pepfar is driven by a shared responsibility among donor and partner nations and others to make smart investments to save lives.
Pepfar is the cornerstone and largest component of the US President’s Global Health Initiative. With a special focus on improving the health of women, newborns and children, the Global Health Initiative’s goal is to save the greatest number of lives by increasing and building upon what works and, then, supporting countries as they work to improve the health of their own people.