Deborah and Gloria are fortunate to benefit from their participation in programs run by the Liyoyelo Urban Clinic. This clinic, supported the University of Maryland’s CIHEB Zambia, has been key in responding to the challenges facing adolescent girls and young women by empowering them to make better health decisions, and by mobilizing communities and families to recognize the risks and support these decisions. The clinic also offers young women access to pre-exposure prophylaxis or PrEP, a proven effective way to substantially reduce the risk of HIV infection among populations who are at substantial risk of HIV infection.
Guaranteeing adequate supplies of PrEP throughout the country is not easy, but the USAID Global Health Supply Chain Program – Procurement and Supply Management (GHSC-PSM) has been a key supply chain partner in the PrEP program. More than 2.1 million bottles of PrEP (August 2022) have been delivered to Zambia, making it accessible to adolescent girls and young women at health facilities countrywide. The project has also procured antiretrovirals, rapid test kits and laboratory commodities so that people can continue to live healthy lives.
The PrEP program began in 2018, thanks to the Zambian Ministry of Health and the PEPFAR-supported DREAMS (Determined, Resilient, Empowered AIDS-free, Mentored, and Safe) initiative, helping to keep adolescent girls and young women safe. Through the provincial field office in Western Province, GHSC-PSM has been key in strengthening the supply chain system by working with provincial and district health office leadership, the Ministry of Health, and the Zambia Medicines and Medical Supplies Agency (ZAMMSA) to ensure uninterrupted availability of PrEP drugs.
Through accurate data collection and reporting of consumption data. This is critical information for the Ministry and supply chain partners to use in decision-making to ensure medicine is available where and when it is most needed.
