Funded by the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the Sustainable Financing Initiative for HIV/AIDS (SFI) aims to increase sustainability of the HIV response by promoting shared financial responsibility with host country governments. Since 2014, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has implemented SFI in 16 countries and two regional programs, with a budget of nearly $48 million.
Namibia has made tremendous progress in controlling the HIV epidemic and is near its 95-95-95 targets. Estimates indicate that in 2020, approximately 210,000 people (8.3 percent of the population) were living with HIV (PLHIV). About 5,400 people were newly infected with HIV, and close to 2,600 people died from an AIDS-related illness.1 The Government of the Republic of Namibia (GRN) is committed to health spending (at 15 percent of General Government Expenditure (GGE) per year); increasing program and budget efficacy will be critical to ensure sustainable financing and systems are in place to maintain the progress made to date.
In collaboration with the GRN and relevant stakeholders, SFI focused on increasing domestic resources to close the HIV financing gap, leading the development of a sustainability strategy, implementing reforms to move towards universal health coverage, and engaging with the private sector to form new partnerships. These efforts represent important milestones in Namibia’s HIV response.
