Global Fund Executive Director Visits Alliance India

New Delhi — Dr Mark Dybul, the Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, visited India HIV/AIDS Alliance to learn more about our Vihaan care & support programme’s eMpower mobile application developed in collaboration with IBM Global Services, the Global Fund and Alliance India.

Outreach workers (ORWs) from Alliance India’s Vihaan partner organizations showcased the tablet-based application to Dr Dybul. eMpower will be used by more than 2,000 ORWs to facilitate client registration and improve monitoring, service access and treatment adherence for more than one million people living with HIV (PLHIV) served by the programme.

Along with meeting Alliance India staff working on our Global Fund-supported Vihaan and Pehchan programmes, the visit also provided an opportunity for Dr Dybul to meet other civil society and community representatives to understand the impact of Global Fund investments in India.

Dr Dybul has worked on HIV and public health for more than 25 years. An early architect of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), he served in various positions within it, including as Ambassador. Before joining the Global Fund, Dr Dybul was co-director of the Global Health Law Program at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University. He has written extensively in scientific and policy literature and has received a number of honorary degrees and other awards.

After graduating from Georgetown Medical School in Washington, DC, Dr Dybul joined the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, where he conducted basic and clinical studies on different aspects of HIV, including the first controlled trial with combination antiretroviral therapy in Africa.

Alliance India was honoured to welcome Dr Dybal for this dialogue. The support of the Global Fund has helped transform the county’s HIV response for PLHIV and key populations, especially men who have sex with men, transgender women, hijras, and people who inject drugs. Alliance India and the millions who benefit from this vital support look forward to a continued collaboration with the Global Fund on these critical priorities for India and the region.

For further details, please contact Nirnita Talukdar (ntalukdar@allianceindia.org; 098-1883-3021).

 About India HIV/AIDS Alliance

Founded in 1999, India HIV/AIDS Alliance is a non-governmental organisation incorporated as a Section 8 Company (not-for-profit) and fully governed in India. Alliance India operates in partnership with civil society, government and communities to support sustained responses to HIV in India that protect rights and improve health. Complementing the Indian national programme, we build capacity, provide technical support and advocate to strengthen the delivery of effective, innovative, community-based HIV programmes to vulnerable populations affected by the epidemic. For more information, please visit www.allianceindia.org