The Director of U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Office of HIV and TB Control, Rachel Goldstein, on Thursday joined the chief of staff to Adamawa State, Prof. Maxwell Michael Gidado, at a virtual ceremony to start distribution of equipment and machines to foster self-reliance among vulnerable households.
The donation of equipment in Adamawa is a part of USAID’s $19.2 million Integrated Child Health and Social Services Region 4 Award (ICHSSA 4) that will help more than 75,000 vulnerable children and their caregivers in Adamawa and Bauchi states become more resilient to the HIV epidemic’s health and social consequences. USAID is currently serving over 500,000 vulnerable children and their caregivers in high HIV burden states in Nigeria.
“This equipment will help children, adolescents and adults impacted by HIV to gain financial stability, stay on treatment, and ultimately achieve suppression of the virus,” Goldstein said at the ceremony. “We hope the equipment will help families improve their situation in life and strengthen markets that will sustain them at the local level.”
This activity is part of a broader effort to provide comprehensive support services to HIV affected households. To improve economic resilience, ICHSSA 4 has a strong vocational education component for the activity’s beneficiaries, who now require reliable equipment to monetize their skills.
In partnership with the Adamawa state government, USAID has provided 2,000 of these beneficiaries — children and households living with HIV or in highly vulnerable areas — with start up kits and other equipment.
The equipment includes 900 wet and dry grinding machines for agribusiness, 350 fish drying implements for aquaculture, and 700 sewing machines for tailoring and fabrication of local textiles.
“We are happy to have these equipment support the state government efforts in taking care of the vulnerable,” Prof. Gidado said.
Last month, USAID under ICHSSA 4 made a similar donation to beneficiaries in Bauchi State.
The UN estimates that there are over 1.8 million people living with HIV in Nigeria. USAID supports 16 states, including Adamawa and Bauchi, to deliver client-centered HIV treatment services to over 500,000 individuals and distributes HIV test kits, medicines, and laboratory reagents to support delivery of life-saving HIV treatment to over 1.2 million Nigerians throughout the country.