ICAP is providing technical assistance to the Government of Ethiopia in support of the country’s initiatives to achieve and sustain the HIV epidemic in line with global 95-95-95 goals for epidemic control. Through this project, ICAP is providing direct support to improve the capacity and quality of HIV service programming throughout the health system in Ethiopia. Support is currently being provided to MOH, four maintained regional health bureaus, and at the site-level in Gambella region. The project has aimed to reach optimal program coverage for attaining epidemic control and strengthening the general health system for sustainable epidemic control. The project is being funded by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and will run from 2018 to 2023.  

ICAP is collaborating with Ethiopia’s Ministry of Health and National Malaria Control and Elimination Program, the Ethiopia Public Health Institute, regional health bureaus, district health offices, and other key malaria stakeholders, to support the implementation of quality malaria diagnosis and treatment services in the country. The project aims to strengthen partnerships and coordination at national and regional levels, promote effective use of resources, and strengthen and scale up quality assurance systems for malaria diagnosis and treatment. The project is funded by the President’s Malaria Initiative through USAID.

ICAP is providing technical support to MOH to strengthen health information systems, to enhance the use of electronic protected health information across the HIV continuum of care, and to establish emergency operation centers for public health monitoring and surveillance. Specific areas of technical support include the national electronic medical record (EMR) platform, data quality improvement, and building a case-based surveillance system. The project is funded by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), through the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  

ICAP is providing technical assistance to the Ministry of Health to conduct the Ethiopia Population-based HIV Impact Assessment (EPHIA) survey to assess HIV prevalence, incidence, and access to HIV prevention, care, and treatment services. The survey includes household-based interviews and HIV counseling and testing for adults and children. The Ethiopia Population Based HIV Impact Assessment (EPHIA), a household-based national survey in urban Ethiopia, was conducted between October 2017 and April 2018 in order to measure the status of Ethiopia’s national response in urban HIV epidemic. EPHIA offered household-based HIV counseling and testing, with the return of results and referral to clinics for those who tested HIV-positive, and collected information about the uptake of HIV prevention, care, and treatment services. This is the first survey to estimate HIV incidence, viral load suppression (VLS), and pediatric prevalence in urban Ethiopia. ICAP provided technical assistance to the Ministry of Health to conduct the Ethiopia Population-based HIV Impact Assessment (EPHIA) survey to assess HIV prevalence, incidence, and access to HIV prevention, care, and treatment services. The survey has estimated the national progress so far made towards achieving the UNAIDS 90-90-90 goals.Survey findings are used to assess the impact of Ethiopia’s HIV response at the national level, and to help guide and target future investment and programs. The project is funded by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), through the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

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Find out more at phia.icap.columbia.edu

The HIV Coverage, Quality, and Impact Network (CQUIN) is a multi-country learning network designed to accelerate the implementation of high-quality differentiated service delivery for HIV. CQUIN’s goal is to increase the number of people living with HIV initiating and sustaining highly effective HIV treatment with sustained viral suppression. Ethiopia has been a member of CQUIN since 2017. In Ethiopia, ICAP supports MOH and regional health bureaus to implement appointment spacing, a facility-based differentiated care model, for 1,050 sites providing HIV health services across the country.

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Find out more at cquin.icap.columbia.edu  

TRACE aims to establish epidemiological data surveillance systems to monitor the HIV epidemic in real-time—allowing countries to prevent new HIV infections through precise prevention efforts, as well as targeted interventions to improve treatment adherence and retention in HIV care. With funding from the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), ICAP is working in collaboration with CDC, ministries of health, and local organizations to roll out rapid HIV recency testing in selected high-burden countries.

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Learn more on the TRACE project page  

VACS is a national household survey of children and young adults (aged 13 – 24) to provide national estimates on physical and sexual violence against children in Ethiopia. The survey measures the prevalence and circumstances surrounding emotional, physical, and sexual violence in childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. Findings from VACS provide reliable evidence to enable better decision-making around allocation of limited resources to develop, launch, and evaluate violence prevention programs and child protection systems. The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has supported the implementation of VACS subproject in Ethiopia  

ICAP has been implementing the volunteer Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC) project among adult men in Gambella region targeting the host and refugee populations since 2019. This project is being implemented as part of a comprehensive public health prevention effort to reduce the incidence of HIV in the region using PEPFAR funds provided through CDC.    

In close partnership with MOH, ICAP is supporting the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic by ensuring frontline health workers in Ethiopia are equipped with adequate knowledge, policies, and infrastructure to deliver safe and effective care for patients with COVID-19. Through this project, ICAP is rapidly disseminating training materials; strengthening telemedicine capacity among health facilities; providing technical guidance in infection prevention and control measures designed to the Ethiopian context. The project is funded by the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation.  

ICAP conducted an innovative cluster randomized trial aimed at rigorously evaluating the effectiveness of a combination intervention package for the provision of isoniazid prevention therapy (IPT) for tuberculosis in HIV care and treatment programs in Ethiopia, as compared to the current standard of care. The goal was to determine an effective strategy to increase IPT initiation, adherence, and completion among people living with HIV. The project was funded by NIAID.

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View the End-of-Project report here

ICAP provided technical support at the national and regional level to implement and monitor adult and pediatric HIV prevention, care and treatment services, including blood safety, infection prevention, and strategic information systems. ICAP also supported hospitals and health centers providing HIV care. Working with regional reference laboratories, ICAP strengthened antiretroviral therapy monitoring, early infant diagnosis and quality assurance for HIV, and related laboratory tests. As part of this project, ICAP launched the country’s first peer education program, the Network of People Living with HIV (NEP+), in efforts to include people living with HIV in treatment, care, support, and outreach programming across the country. The group remains actively involved in the country’s HIV response. The project was funded by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), through the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

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View the End-of-Project report here

With this two-year study, ICAP evaluated the therapeutic effectiveness of drugs currently used in Ethiopia against malaria, arthemeterlumefantrine and chloroquine. The research assessed the safety and efficacy of primaquine when used in combination with the existing treatment protocol. The research helped determine the number of recurrent malaria episodes in patients who receive primaquine compared to those who do not.

The project was funded by Menzies School of Health Research.

ICAP collaborated with the CUNY School of Public Health, the HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies at Columbia University, and the Oromia Regional Health Bureau on a study to determine the multi-level factors associated with late antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation in areas of sub-Saharan Africa and Ethiopia where ART is being scaled-up rapidly. ICAP worked to develop general and practical recommendations for clinical-level interventions that would result in earlier ART initiation. The project was funded by NIH.

From 2015 to 2018, ICAP provided technical support to implement, monitor, and sustain the delivery of high-quality adult and pediatric HIV prevention, care, and treatment in all regions of Ethiopia. During the project period, ICAP supported the development and enhancement of HIV-related national policies and guidelines. Regionally, the project worked to strengthen regional health bureau capacity to manage comprehensive HIV prevention, care and treatment program with local capacity. At the facility level, ICAP’s efforts enabled health care workers to deliver comprehensive and high-quality services to recipients of HIV care. The project was funded by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), through the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

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Read the end-of-project report here

Columbia University’s role in implementing PEPFAR began in 2003, when it received funding from the Global AIDS Program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) under the University Technical Assistance Projects (UTAP) to support the development of important components of national HIV programs, including treatment protocols and training. In 2004, ICAP was founded and was awarded a new cooperative agreement from CDC under the PEPFAR framework, the Track 1.0 funding mechanism, to provide comprehensive HIV care and treatment in five countries: Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa, and Tanzania, with programming in Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, and Nigeria subsequently added. This initiative, the Multicountry Columbia Antiretroviral Program (MCAP), rapidly expanded programs for HIV care and ART by promoting early diagnosis of HIV infection, maintaining the health of those living with HIV, and preventing further transmission of HIV within the community. MCAP programming between 2004 and 2012, in addition to being focused on rapidly scaling up care and treatment in partnership with host-country governments, also emphasized the full continuum of HIV-related services, continued capacity building and health systems strengthening, and transition of operations to host governments and local nongovernmental organizations.

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Find the MCAP End-of-Project Reports here.

In September 2002, the Mailman School of Public Health (MSPH) at Columbia University (CU) entered into a Cooperative Agreement with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) for the University Technical Assistance Projects (UTAP) in Support of the Global HIV/AIDS Program. Situated within ICAP, UTAP was originally envisioned as a single-country program for the provision of technical assistance, but rapidly grew to include long-term and short-term technical and administrative assistance to the national responses to HIV/AIDS in five countries: Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zambia. As the original UTAP project drew to a close and PEPFAR moved into its second phase—focused on sustainability—ICAP entered into several, follow-on Cooperative Agreements, called UTAP-2. Four were country-focused (in Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Swaziland, and Tanzania) and the fifth—UTAP-2 Atlanta—became a flexible mechanism for providing a wide range of technical assistance and other support to PEPFAR countries. After beginning in 2009 as a means to help CDC conduct  surveillance training more efficiently through distance education, UTAP-2 Atlanta grew over the next six and a half years to comprise 11 distinct projects addressing needs and gaps in the HIV response and answering important research questions to inform the response going forward.

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Find all UTAP and UTAP-2 resources here.

The Global Nurse Capacity Building Program (GNCBP) was a multi-year program (2009-2018) to increase the quantity and quality of the nursing and midwifery workforce by addressing seven domains of health workforce development: infrastructure, curriculum, faculty, clinical skills, production, in-service training, and partnership for policy and regulation. GNCBP was administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), under the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, with funding from the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The program used a holistic approach to strengthen nursing and midwifery education and practice through two complementary sub-projects: the Nursing Education Partnership Initiative (NEPI), which expanded the health workforce by producing new nurses and midwives, and the General Nursing (GN) project, which supported the maintenance of a skilled health workforce through continuing professional development in support of HIV care and treatment. In Ethiopia, NEPI enhanced nursing and midwifery education through infrastructure development, curriculum reform, faculty capacity building, and clinical training in partnership with MOH, Addis Ababa University School of Nursing, Arbaminch College of Health Sciences, and the University of Gondar Nursing School. Additionally, the GN promoted continued professional development for trained nurses in partnership with MOH, Ethiopia Nurses Association (ENA), and Ethiopia Midwives Association (EMwA)

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Find the GNCBP final report here

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Find out more about NEPI and General Nursing

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Read the GNCBP in Ethiopia report here

From 2009-2017, ICAP provided technical assistance to MOH, Ethiopia Public Health Institute, regional health bureaus, and regional reference laboratories to strengthen the capacity of malaria diagnosis and fever case management in Ethiopia. Over this period, the project supported 1,026 health facilities to improve the quality of malaria laboratory diagnosis; malaria/fever case management; linkage between malaria, HIV, and TB diagnostic and treatment services; and research implementation. Between 2009 and 2011, ICAP provided additional technical assistance in disease monitoring to 70 health facilities located in areas greatly impacted by malaria including Oromia, Amhara, Dire Dawa, Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples and Tigray regions. During this scale up of activities, ICAP also provided tailored support to MOH, EPHI, and six regional reference laboratories. The project was funded by the President’s Malaria Initiative through USAID.

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View the End-of-Project report here

ICAP partnered with MOH to strengthen HIV rapid testing quality assurance efforts by developing guidelines, indicators, and tools for implementing and monitoring retesting procedures for HIV positive individuals prior to ART initiation. The project was funded by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), through the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

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View the End-of-Learn more on the Global Technical Assistance project page report here