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. Survey findings will be used to assess the impact of Ethiopia’s HIV response at the national level, and to help guide and target future investment and programs. (funded by PEPFAR through the CDC)

Find out more at phia.icap.columbia.edu

ICAP is providing technical support at the national and regional level to implement, monitor, and sustain the delivery of high-quality adult and pediatric HIV prevention, care, and treatment. ICAP is building the capacity of regional health bureaus to provide a full range of services, including HIV counseling and testing, prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT), adult and pediatric HIV treatment, care and support, TB/HIV integration, laboratory support, infection prevention, support for strategic information systems, health systems strengthening, and transition of responsibilities to local partners. ICAP is also building the capacity of universities to provide pre-service medical education and in-service training. (funded by PEPFAR through the CDC)

The Global Nurse Capacity Building Program (GNCBP) is a global health initiative that 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). It was implemented by ICAP at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health (ICAP) from 2009 to 2018. GNCBP’s goal was to advance the HIV response toward epidemic control and to improve population health in sub-Saharan Africa by fostering individuals, institutions, and networks to expand, enhance, and sustain the nursing and midwifery workforce.

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 (CPD), in support of HIV care and treatment scale up and sustainability. Together, NEPI and GN interventions increased 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.

Find the GNCBP final report here

Find out more about NEPI and General Nursing

Read the GNCBP in Ethiopia 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.

Find the MCAP End-of-Project Reports here.

From 2005-2015, ICAP provided technical assistance to the FMOH, Ethiopia Public Health Institute, and regional reference laboratories to support malaria laboratory diagnosis and monitoring activities. (funded by the President’s Malaria Initiative through USAID) 

View the End-of-Project resources 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.

Find all UTAP and UTAP-2 resources here.