Providing Technical Assistance

BD/PEPFAR Annual Newsletter

About the BD/PEPFAR Collaborations  |  Lab Strengthening Highlights  |  Safer Blood Collection Highlights

Introduction - About the BD/PEPFAR Collaborations

Access to quality healthcare is at the core of society’s ability to advance.  In the developed world, where health services are mostly strong, families and communities are able to thrive.  In the developing world, where these fragile systems are carrying a heavy burden of disease, however, more people get sick, more families become frayed and more communities struggle to exist. 

Resource-limited settings often lack the infrastructure, resources, training and expertise to operate as efficiently as is necessary.  The people who need those systems to function at a high level to remain healthy, or patients who need them to work well so they can receive the care and treatment they need, suffer the consequences when they do not. 

New technology, while essential, is only part of the battle.  Local healthcare facilities also depend on – but often lack – medical technicians with the proper training.  The impact on healthcare systems is tangible – in the form of lab results not processed accurately or timely enough – and in dangerous working conditions for overstressed staff. 

In a pioneering public-private partnership, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and BD are collaborating in four areas – lab strengthening, safer blood collection, protecting healthcare workers and preventing sexual violence against girls.  These collaborations are designed to strengthen the fragile health systems of the developing world and address the root causes of the spread of disease.