>> PEPFAR Cameroon has provided care and support to nearly 25,000 orphans and vulnerable children,
has helped almost 200,000 people get access to antiretroviral treatment,
and in the year 2018 alone, provided HIV testing services to over 1.1 million people.
Cameroon has made a lot of progress with fighting HIV/AIDS
since it started cooperation with PEPFAR in 2012
but I have to say that much, much more needs to be done.
What do I do in such a situation? I was given several pieces of advice.
There are people out there that care about us. PEPFAR does, I can assure you.
For what PEPFAR has done for my life, I really lack the words to thank them.
I am alive today due to PEPFAR and Horizon Femme.
They put everything in place to support people like me.
Today, I feel healthy. I no longer have rashes on my skin.
I no longer feel sick. I take my medicine without spending a franc.
It's really wonderful what PEPFAR does for us. Thank you, PEPFAR, for all that you have done.
I want to thank PEPFAR because I am the head of my household.
I am a mother to 15 children, 15 beneficiaries of this project improving health and education.
Because of the program, my children were enrolled in school.
I want to thank this project because there was a time when my children were not going to school.
Because of this project, which gave me the courage, which supported me and gave me the will to live, I will never stop saying thank you.
PEPFAR has made great contributions in the Northwest, Southwest, Littoral, and Center regions, where we have a substantial number of patients actively on treatment.
In December of 2018, that number was nearly 280,000 patients on ARV and we think that PEPFAR really contributed to those results.
Our hope is that this financing continues. That is the first thing.
And that we are no longer limited to these four regions and certain health facilities in those regions.
It is about continuing to develop our health system, building the capacity of local staff and from there we will put an end to the HIV epidemic.
PEPFAR wants to put a stop to HIV/AIDS in Cameroon and around the world.
Starting in October of 2019, PEPFAR will expand its programs
to all ten regions of Cameroon in an effort to find hard to reach populations throughout the country,
get them on life-saving treatment
and get them virally suppressed, so that they cannot transmit the virus.
Epidemic control in Cameroon is within reach. Together, we can achieve it.