Dr. Andriy Klepikov, Alliance for Public Health (Ukraine): "We are still standing."

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Dr. Andriy Klepikov, the founder and executive director of the Alliance for Public Health (Ukraine), reflects on the Alliance's remarkable evolution over the past 25 years into a major Ukrainian—and regional—non-governmental force in HIV, TB, and harm reduction programs. Foundational to its early success was the exemplary partnership with the Global Fund and PEPFAR. Ukraine, in the midst of war, cannot at present soon transition to self-reliance. In the past three and a half years of war following the Russian invasion, the Alliance has become a provider of mass emergency humanitarian relief to the most vulnerable in Ukraine. It now serves five times the numbers it served before the war. Recovery will draw on telemedicine and mobile clinics, and prioritize mental health, war veterans who are blinded, have lost limbs, and struggle with long-term trauma. The United States remains indispensable to Ukraine's future—for peace and social justice.