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.
Nepal has made notable progress in responding to the HIV epidemic. In 2018, there were about 30,000 people living with HIV (PLHIV), or 0.14 percent of the population. By the end of 2019, Nepal registered an epidemic control at 86-77-64.1 Donor financing for HIV/AIDS has been steadily decreasing in recent years, illustrating the need for increased domestic financing to fill expected resource gaps.
Nepal’s national target is to reach 95-95-95 by 2030. That is, 95 percent of PLHIV know their HIV status, 95 percent of PHIV who know their status initiate treatment, and 95 percent of those on treatment are virally suppressed.3 SFI is supporting the government of Nepal to achieve these goals by generating evidence on the costs of achieving HIV targets and areas for increasing efficiency in spending, as well as strengthening the capacity of federal and local government officials and civil society organizations in budget planning and advocacy. These efforts represent important milestones on the path to long-term sustainability of the HIV response.
